A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military, ruling that the policy discriminates based on gender identity and violates constitutional protections.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued the decision, calling the ban “soaked in animus” and finding it had no factual basis.
“Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact,” Reyes wrote in her ruling.
The judge delayed enforcement of her preliminary injunction until Friday, giving the administration time to appeal. She also noted the government had the ability to craft a policy that balanced military preparedness with constitutional rights but failed to do so.
“They still can,” Reyes wrote. “The Military Ban, however, is not that policy. The Court therefore must act to uphold the equal protection rights that the military defends every day.”
The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
LGBTQ advocates praised the ruling. Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which represents several transgender service members and prospective enlistees, said Reyes acted swiftly “to shield our troops from the harmful effects of this irrational ban.”
“The ban’s harmful impact and rushed implementation show that it was motivated by prejudice,” Minter said. “Our plaintiffs include lifelong military personnel who served in combat, come from multi-generation military families, and have received honors like the Bronze Star. This ban is unjustifiable.”
Trump’s order, an expansion of a similar policy from his first term, not only barred transgender individuals from enlisting but also mandated the identification and removal of service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Those discharged under the policy were to receive honorable separations unless their records indicated otherwise, according to Pentagon documents filed in court.
Two national LGBTQ legal organizations, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and NCLR, sued in January on behalf of six active-duty transgender service members and two individuals seeking to enlist. The lawsuit argued the ban was rooted in bias rather than legitimate military concerns.
During preliminary hearings, Reyes pressed a Justice Department attorney on language in the order that described transgender identity as incompatible with military values.
“Would it be fair to say that excluding a group of people from military service based on unsupported assertions that they are liars, immodest, lack integrity, are undisciplined and are dishonorable—particularly when there’s no support for any of those assertions—would you agree with me that that is animated by animus?” she asked.
The attorney declined to answer.
Reyes also challenged provisions requiring service members to use pronouns aligning with their birth sex.
“Because it doesn’t,” Reyes said when the government lawyer hesitated. “Because any common-sense rational human being understands that it doesn’t.”
The ruling marks a significant legal setback for the Trump-era policy, which faced opposition from civil rights groups and military leaders who argued that transgender individuals had served with distinction. The administration now has days to decide whether to appeal the decision.
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