Trump order banning transgender people from serving in military blocked by federal judge

WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military. 

Violates constitutional rights

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., ruled that Trump’s order to exclude transgender troops from serving likely violates their constitutional rights. 

She delayed her order by three days to give the administration time to appeal.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction requested by attorneys for six transgender people who are active-duty service members and two others seeking to join the military.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys contend Trump’s order violates transgender people’s rights to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment.

The plaintiffs who sued to block Trump’s order include an Army Reserves platoon leader from Pennsylvania, an Army major who was awarded a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan and a Sailor of the Year award winner serving in the Navy.

Their attorneys, from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLAD Law, said transgender troops "seek nothing more than the opportunity to continue dedicating their lives to defending the Nation."

What they're saying:

"Yet these accomplished servicemembers are now subject to an order that says they must be separated from the military based on a characteristic that has no bearing on their proven ability to do the job," plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote. "This is a stark and reckless reversal of policy that denigrates honorable transgender servicemembers, disrupts unit cohesion, and weakens our military."

Plaintiffs’ attorneys say Trump’s order fits his administration’s pattern of discriminating against transgender people.

The other side:

Government lawyers argue that military officials have broad discretion to decide how to assign and deploy servicemembers without judicial interference.

Attorneys also said the Defense Department has a history of disqualifying people from military service if they have physical or emotional impairments, including mental health conditions.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that presumptively disqualifies people with gender dysphoria from military service. Gender dysphoria is the distress that a person feels because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match. The medical condition has been linked to depression and suicidal thoughts.

Hegseth’s Feb. 26 policy says service members or applicants for military service who have "a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service."

What does the order say?

Dig deeper:

In February, the U.S. Army confirmed its policy shift following the president’s signed executive order.

The order cited concerns that transgender service members’ identities conflict "with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle." The administration argues that gender dysphoria, a condition of distress caused by a mismatch between assigned sex and gender identity, presents a medical readiness issue.

How does this compare to past military policies on transgender troops?

The backstory:

This is not the first time the U.S. military has restricted transgender service members. In 2017, Trump announced a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, which was later reversed by President Joe Biden in 2021.

Under Biden’s policy, openly transgender individuals were allowed to serve, receive gender-affirming care, and transition while in service. With the latest executive order, the Trump administration has reversed that approach, effectively reinstating a ban on new transgender enlistees.