U.S. appeals court denies stay of transgender military ban
RICHMOND, Va. — A federal appeals court in Virginia on Thursday denied a Trump administration request to delay a requirement that it begin allowing transgender people to enlist in the military on Jan. 1.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a short order that it would not grant the request as an appeal of a lower-court ruling proceeds.
President Donald Trump tweeted in July that the federal government “will not accept or allow” transgender individuals to serve “in any capacity” in the military. That would reverse a 2016 policy change under President Barack Obama allowing transgender people to serve openly.
Trump later formally directed the Pentagon to extend a ban indefinitely on transgender individuals enlisting, and he gave Defense Secretary Jim Mattis six months to come up with a policy on how to deal with those currently serving.
Several legal challenges to that proposed ban are ongoing.
Thursday’s order came in a lawsuit filed in Maryland by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of six current members of the armed forces who are transgender. A U.S. district judge in Baltimore halted the proposed ban in November, and the government is appealing.
The Department of Justice disagrees with the court’s ruling and is currently evaluating next steps, spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam said.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon issued detailed new policy guidance to military recruiters for how to enlist transgender men and women into the armed forces and said admitting the recruits will start Jan. 1 and go on amid the legal battles.
The policy paper was issued Dec. 8 by the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command in Chicago, “and shall remain in effect until expressly revoked,” the memorandum said. It states that allowing transgender military service is “mandatory,” and repeats a previous directive from Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has said all people will be “treated with dignity and respect.”
“For the purposes of military entrance processing, the applicant’s preferred gender will be used on all forms asking for the ‘sex’ of an applicant,” the guidance said.
Individuals who have undergone gender reassignment surgery will be allowed to join the military as long as doctors consider them to have been stable in their new gender for 18 months, with no complications or additional surgery needed.
Attorneys and advocates for transgender service members have said the seven-page memo undercuts the administration’s assertion that it is struggling to prepare.