By Brendan Pierson and Jack Queen
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the U.S. military from enforcing President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender people from military service while a lawsuit by 20 current and would-be service members challenging the measure goes forward.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington found that Trump’s January 27 order, one of a several issued by the Republican president targeting legal rights for transgender Americans, likely violated the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on sex discrimination.
Reyes was appointed by President Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic predecessor.
In response to Trump’s order, the military said on February 11 that it would no longer allow transgender individuals to join the military and would stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender transition for service members. Later that month, the military said it would begin expelling transgender members.
Trump said in his order that “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 issued a similar order during his first term, during which already-serving transgender members were allowed to remain.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued that the order was illegal, pointing to a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that employment discrimination against transgender people is a form of illegal sex discrimination.
Lawyers for the government have argued in court that the military is entitled to bar people with certain conditions that make them unsuitable for service, also including bipolar disorder and eating disorders. At a March 12 hearing, they told Reyes that she should defer to the judgment of the current administration that transgender people are not fit for service.
The judge repeatedly pressed them to justify their stance with evidence, and at times expressed open outrage at the order’s language denigrating the character of transgender people.
The military has about 1.3 million active-duty personnel, Department of Defense data shows. While transgender rights advocates say there are as many as 15,000 transgender service members, officials say the number is in the low thousands.
(Reporting by Jack Queen, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew Lewis)
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