Trump Sued by Trans Troops Over Ban on US Military Service (2)

Six members of the US military sued President Donald Trump over his executive order banning transgender people from serving in the armed forces, setting the stage for a new battle over LGBTQ rights.

The suit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, alleges the order violates the Constitution’s equal-protection guarantees by discriminating based on sex and transgender status “without lawful justification.”

The ban “was issued without any study of the effectiveness of transgender service members during the past four years or of any problems that may have arisen from their service,” the plaintiffs said in the complaint, which seeks a court order putting the ban on hold while the case proceeds.

The executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 27 is part of his broader effort to scrap legal protections granted in recent years to trans Americans, including active duty troops. Earlier administrations removed barriers to service by transgender troops after determining that they could serve effectively and without undermining military readiness.

Trump’s order calls into question those earlier findings, suggesting they were part of an effort to assert “radical gender ideology.” The order says that maintaining “high standards for troop readiness” is inconsistent with the “medical, surgical and mental constraints” on people with gender dysphoria, a condition that trans people are often diagnosed with.

“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” Trump’s order said.

‘Invented’ Pronouns

Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to update Pentagon medical standards in 30 days and to end the use of “invented” pronouns in the department. Hegseth and other military officials are also named in the suit.

According to the complaint, Trump’s new order lacks any assessment of whether service by trans troops resulted in greater costs or whether any “legitimate governmental concerns could be addressed by means other than a categorical ban.” Two transgender individuals who want to join the military also were part of the case.

The White House did not respond to a message seeking comment.

The suit was filed jointly by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Shannon Minter, legal director at NCLR, said Trump’s repeated attempt to ban trans troops is “a stain on our military.”

“Anyone who meets the standards should be able to serve,” Minter said in a statement on the group’s website. “There are already thousands of transgender service members currently in the military who have met the standards and more than proven themselves.”

One of the plaintiffs is Nicolas Talbott, a 31-year-old second lieutenant who has served in the Army Reserves for almost a year. Talbott began receiving transgender health care in 2012 and went on to complete Officer Candidate School, according to the complaint. He’s now platoon leader in the Military Policing Unit and set to begin further training in August, the suit says.

If the ban takes effect, Talbott “would lose the career he has spent years of his life fighting to join, after finally earning his commission, and would be unable to continue to serve the United States people as a member of the military,” according to the suit.

Last week, Trump also signed an order that recognizes two sexes, male and female, and seeks to mandate federal agencies use the term sex and not gender. Trump campaigned on rolling back transgender protections, including in women’s sports, an issue he highlighted at rallies and in ads.

Transgender troops started serving openly in 2016, when former President Barack Obama began lifting a longstanding ban. Trump in 2017 vowed to ban trans troops, triggering a wave of earlier litigation. In 2019, a divided US Supreme Court cleared Trump to start barring most trans people from serving while the suits continued. But that fight still wasn’t resolved when Trump lost reelection in 2020 and former President Joe Biden lifted the ban.

The case is Talbott v. Trump, 25-cv-240, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

(Updates with comment from advocacy group. An earlier version corrected the spelling of Talbott.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth, Elizabeth Wasserman

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