Another US judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Donald Trump's ban on transgender troops, dealing a further blow to the president's efforts to prevent trans people from serving in the military.
"Absent an injunction, all transgender service members are likely to suffer the irreparable harm of losing the military service career they have chosen, while otherwise qualified accession plaintiffs will lose the opportunity to serve," Judge Benjamin H. Settle wrote.
The preliminary injunction maintains "the status quo of military policy regarding both active-duty and prospective transgender service that existed nationwide" before Trump issued an executive order targeting transgender military service earlier this year, according to Settle.
"This order applies to all plaintiffs and any similarly situated individuals nationwide, including those serving out of country," the judge wrote.
Settle's order follows one issued last week by Judge Ana C. Reyes that likewise temporarily blocks the ban on trans troops.
The Trump administration has already appealed Reyes's order, which is set to go into effect on Friday evening.
A third judge issued a temporary restraining order earlier this week barring the government from dismissing two specific plaintiffs from the military based on their transgender status, but unlike the other two orders, it does not affect the military as a whole.
In a January 27 executive order, Trump stated that "expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."
The Pentagon followed that up with a memo issued in late February stating that it would remove transgender troops from the military unless they obtain a waiver on a case-by-case basis, as well as prevent others from joining.
If the ban goes into effect, it could affect thousands of currently serving troops.
The restrictions in the memo are aimed at those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria -- of whom there were 4,240 serving in the military as of late last year, according to a senior defense official -- as well as those who have a history of that condition.
Transgender Americans have faced a roller coaster of changing policies on military service in recent years, with Democratic administrations seeking to permit them to serve openly, while Trump has repeatedly sought to keep them out of the ranks.
AFP