The Trump administration was blocked by a federal appeals court from banning almost 30 transgender-identifying individuals from being able to serve in the United States military.
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that 28 transgender individuals — who had filed a lawsuit when the Trump administration barred transgender individuals from serving in the military — are allowed to “continue serving while the case proceeds,” the New York Times reported.
While the court’s ruling “applies only to 28 plaintiffs,” the plaintiffs have called for the court “to extend the protection to all transgender troops,” according to the outlet.
“In the beginning days of his second term in office, President Trump issued an Executive Order proclaiming that persons ‘expressing a false “gender identity” divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,’” Judge Robert L. Wilkins wrote in the majority opinion. “Exec. Order No. 14183, 90 Fed. Reg. 8757 § 1 (Jan. 27, 2025). The President, and later Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (now redesignated as Secretary of War), also declared that persons affiliated with gender dysphoria are unfit for military service, because among other things, the character of such persons (in the President’s and Secretary’s words) is ‘inconsistent’ with the ‘high standards . . . [of] honesty, humility, . . . and integrity.’”
“In this litigation, the government has not attempted to defend or provide any factual basis for these disparaging characterizations of American citizens,” Wilkins continued. “Indeed, the government has not contested that the Plaintiff-Appellees who are currently serving (and who have collectively earned more than 80 recommendations) have served honorably and pose no threat to national security, even though they happen to be transgender and have suffered from gender dysphoria.”
The decision from the court comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January 2025, stating that “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”
“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, 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,” the executive order continued. “A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
In February 2025, the U.S. Army announced that, along with no longer allowing transgender-identifying individuals to serve in the U.S. military, the U.S. Army would also stop performing medical procedures “associated with gender transition.”
