Groups ask judge to halt transgender ban
Human rights groups asked a federal judge Thursday to block President Donald Trump’s proposed ban on transgender people serving in the military, producing statements by three former Obama administration U.S. service branch chiefs and a senior Pentagon official that a ban would harm readiness, staffing, recruitment and morale.
The move to stop the Trump administration edict came two days after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis formally responded to Trump’s official directive ordering the Pentagon chief to determine how to implement the policy.
In a statement, Shannon Minter, legal director for one of two gay rights organizations representing eight transgender U.S. service members, said their opposition to the “reckless” ban was joined by military experts “who know that ripping trained, experienced service members out of our armed forces — for no reason other than who they are — will leave gaping holes in our defense, compromise national security, and inhibit recruitment during a critical time.”
The groups said they sought an injunction now because even though Mattis temporarily froze the ban as the Pentagon reviews its options, he committed to carrying out the Trump policy by March 23. As a result, service members face the imminent prospect of being denied reenlistment, promotions, deployments and even medical care, the groups said.
Mattis also suspended prior plans to permit new transgender enlistees, threatening the careers of transgender students enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy or in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, Minter said.
Transgender service members’ “lives have been thrown into utter chaos, and they need an order protecting them from further discrimination and harms right now,” Minter said.
The filing in the lawsuit, by Minter’s group, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, came in federal court in the nation’s capital, and was the first of several similar moves expected in lawsuits filed across the country by civil rights groups and transgender people in the armed services.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly could issue a ruling or set a hearing next week.