Judge Denies Trump’s Effort To Ban Transgender People From Military
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – A federal judge has denied an attempt by President Donald J. Trump’s administration to ban transgender people from joining the military.
Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who previous President Joe Biden appointed, reinstated a temporary injunction to protect active-duty and prospective service members from discharge.
Reyes denied a government motion to dissolve her order that prevents the military from denying transgender people the ability to enlist in the U.S. military.
She also dismantled the Defense Department’s proposed implementation plan, noting that it would require all 1.3 million active-duty troops to self-report annually whether they have ever had, currently have, or exhibit “symptoms of gender dysphoria.” That could be flagged as “non-deployable” and recommended for discharge.
The judge compared the plan to “rummaging through private medical records” and called it “the process” the Military Department Identification (MDI) Guidance “requires.”
However, the judge allowed the Trump administration time to appeal, although she appears to raise doubts about its prospects.
“This litigation is not about a medical condition. A medical condition has not given its country decades of military service…People have. Transgender people,” U.S. District Judge Reyes argued.
LGBTQ+ ACTIVISM
The Trump administration, which has been cracking down on LGBTQ+ activism, argued that a new MDI Guidance narrowed the ban to apply only to service members with “a current medical condition” and not all transgender people.
However, Reyes rejected that assertion, saying the claim was “unpersuasive.”
In a 16-page ruling, she wrote that the government’s arguments “did not sway the Court before; regurgitating them with the MDI Guidance is equally unpersuasive.”
The judge stressed that” Gender dysphoria is not like other medical conditions, something Defendants well know.
It affects only one group of people: all persons with gender dysphoria are transgender, and only transgender persons experience gender dysphoria.”
It was not immediately clear when or if the Trump administration would appeal the ruling.
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