Federal Judge Considering Class Action Over Trans Troop Ban
Judge Ana Reyes, who has rebuked the administration’s ban on trans troops more than once over the last year, has called for a briefing to discuss whether or not their case should apply to a larger group of people.
by Aly Gibbs
Let’s check in on the civil liberties of transgender Americans in the armed forces, shall we?
It’s been a while since we talked about this sort of thing, so you could be forgiven for forgetting what’s going on. There’s plenty of other news happening in the world every single day, right? So, just as soon as he got into office a second time, Donald Trump issued an Executive Order stating that Americans of transgender persuasion could no longer serve in the United States military, citing some sort of innate lack of integrity and concerns over military readiness. The Justice Department, trying to defend that stance, got their asses handed to them in court repeatedly.
Multiple federal judges attempted to block the ban from going forward, describing it as “soaked with animus” and a “facially unfair, exclusionary policy,” but the Supreme Court—as has been the policy of the conservative majority since Trump regained the White House—were all too happy to ensure that the ban could proceed unabated, with its constitutionality being decided after the fact. A normal, healthy way for a legal system to operate!
It never mattered that there was no evidence to suggest that trans people, in any way, harmed the readiness of the American military. It never mattered that plenty of cisgender service members and veterans disagreed with the ban. What mattered, of course, was that conservatives make trans people feel like they don’t belong in public life, forcing us out of jobs, housing and medical care and ensuring that we are seen as other by cis people.
In terms of more recent updates, on Monday, Judge Ana Reyes (who previously browbeat the Justice Department for being a bunch of dweebs) demanded that the government produce, by April 30, “the certified administrative record underlying the policy, as well as the internal materials and evidence officials relied on in crafting the restrictions,” per The Advocate.
Given the fed’s inability so far to produce any reasonable explanation for banning transgender troops (beyond the obvious “we hate transgender people”), it should be interesting to see them scramble to find any believable evidence that supposedly led them to put the ban into effect. We can assume with some confidence that there exists no such documentation, given how well we know that there is no strong evidence that HRT is unsafe.
Also of note: Judge Reyes told both parties to schedule a briefing to determine whether or not the case should proceed as a class act suit that would represent affected trans service members more broadly. They must determine a time for the briefing by Friday, with a hearing on the issue expected the week of June 29.
Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ+ Rights and lead co-counsel on the case, told The Advocate that he believed the hearing represented a step forward in the case. “Judge Reyes indicated initial support for potentially certifying a class of transgender service members, a measure that could provide the protection needed for transgender troops and their families. She also ordered the government to produce any initial evidence that they claim supports the ban. Despite posturing from this administration, the question of whether this ban can move forward is far from settled.”
It should be said, though I’ve always been of the opinion that trans people losing their livelihoods, access to housing and healthcare, and ability to do anything that a cis person can do is a bad thing, being a part of the US military is neither an honor nor something worth celebrating. As the president wages illegal wars in the middle east (yet again), more people are waking up every day to the fact that service to an imperialist war machine can never be the moral choice.
Still, I welcome any defeat we can manage in the culture war against our community that Donald Trump and his ilk so desperately want. Here’s hoping they lose again, and again, and again.
Aly Gibbs (She/They) is a trans writer who reports on news important to the queer community.
