A federal appeals court in Washington removed the last hurdle for President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military to take effect as planned on April 12.
A three-judge panel on Tuesday granted the administration’s request for a final order lifting an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, after the government’s Supreme Court victory in January in a related case.
“The government’s plan is already wreaking havoc in the lives of dedicated transgender troops who must now face the grim choice of suppressing their identity or leaving military service,” Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in an emailed statement.
More: U.S. Clashing With D.C. Judge Over Trump’s Ban on Trans Troops
The Supreme Court lifted a pair of national injunctions in two lawsuits over the ban in January. A judge in a third case lifted his injunction after the high court’s ruling. But Kollar-Kotelly declined to lift the ban she imposed, citing an unresolved issue on appeal. Last week she said the Pentagon was “incorrect” to claim it could implement the ban.
Trump in 2017 tweeted that he’d ban all transgender Americans from serving in the military “in any capacity.” A more nuanced policy was crafted by his defense secretary at the time, James Mattis, who said transgender troops could serve “in their biological sex.”
The plaintiffs contend the ban is unconstitutional. Their cases will continue while the ban is in effect.
Many troops “are now scrambling to come out and initiate a gender transition before the April 12 deadline in order to be included in the so-called ‘grandfather’ provision,” Minter added.