Trump signed an executive order on Monday that took aim at transgender troops in a personal way — at one point saying that a man identifying as a woman was ”not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member”.
A source familiar with the matter said GLAD Law and the National Center For Lesbian Rights (NCLR) would be filing a joint lawsuit arguing that the executive order violates the equality guarantees of the US Constitution.
The executive orders signed by Trump said that expressing a ”gender identity” different from an individual’s sex at birth did not meet military standards.
While the order banned the use of ”invented” pronouns in the military, it did not answer basic questions including whether transgender soldiers currently serving in the military would be allowed to stay and, if not, how they would be removed.
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Trump’s order has been heavily criticised by rights groups and some Democratic lawmakers.
”President Trump’s Executive Order is an insult to the bravery and service of transgender servicemembers,” Senator Andy Kim said.
”How can we have a military that protects all Americans if it doesn’t recognise and respect all Americans?” he added.
During his first term, Trump announced that he would ban transgender troops from serving in the military. He did not fully follow through with that ban – his administration froze their recruitment while allowing serving personnel to remain.
President Joe Biden overturned the decision when he took office in 2021.
The military has about 1.3 million active-duty personnel, according to Department of Defense data. While transgender rights advocates say there are as many as 15,000 transgender service members, officials say the number is in the low thousands.
When Trump announced his first ban in 2017, he said the military needed to focus on ”decisive and overwhelming victory” without being burdened by the ”tremendous medical costs and disruption” of having transgender personnel.
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