LGBTQ groups plan renewed challenges to Trump’s ban on transgender military service

Four LGBTQ civil rights groups said they plan to sue the Trump administration over an executive order signed late Monday effectively barring transgender people from serving openly in the military, calling the order discriminatory and cruel.

Two LGBTQ rights groups, the Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal, announced publicly their intent to sue President Trump and his administration over the order. The National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders told The Hill they also plan to file lawsuits against the order.

On Monday, Trump signed the order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to outline new military standards that declare transgender troops are not physically or mentally capable to serve. It tasks Hegseth, who has previously criticized allowing transgender people to serve, with issuing guidance to fully implement the order within 30 days and directs him “to end invented and identification-based pronoun usage” within the department.

The order, which reinstates a 2017 policy Trump began implementing during his first term, prohibits male service members and transgender women from using or sharing “sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for females” absent “extraordinary operational necessity.”

“We have been here before and seven years ago successfully blocked the earlier administration’s effort to prevent patriotic, talented Americans from serving their country,” said Sasha Buchert, an attorney with Lambda Legal who helped argue a challenge to Trump’s 2017 ban.

Courts unanimously blocked the 2017 policy before the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect in 2019 while lower courts heard additional arguments. Former President Biden reversed the policy in 2021, also by executive order.

In a statement, Buchert said Trump’s revival of the ban “compromises the safety and security of our country and is particularly dangerous and wrong.”

“As we promised then, so do we now: we will sue to block this action,” she said.

Allowing transgender people to serve in the military, according to Trump’s Monday order, threatens “unit cohesion,” an argument that has long been used to prevent marginalized communities, including Black and gay Americans and women, from serving.

Sarah Warbelow, vice president of legal at the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, echoed Buchert’s sentiment, calling the ban “discriminatory” and insulting to service members.

“Expelling highly trained members of our military undermines military readiness and wastes years of financial and training investments. It also needlessly upends the lives of families who have already sacrificed so much,” Warbelow said Tuesday in a statement. “The Commander-in-Chief should prioritize our military’s safety and readiness, not use his position to issue bans on entire groups of people. This order is unconstitutional, and we will see this administration in court.”

Emily Shilling, a Navy commander and president of SPARTA, a transgender military advocacy group, added that she wants to continue serving despite the ban.

“For nearly two decades, I’ve upheld the highest standards of excellence, leading teams in combat and peace,” said Shilling, who flew dozens of combat missions supporting U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “All I ask is the opportunity to keep using my training and experience to serve this country with honor, courage, and dedication.”

Brad Dress contributed.

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