The Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild welcomes the opinion of U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes issued on March 18, 2025, protecting military transgender servicemembers.
The order was the result of a lawsuit asking for declaratory and injunctive relief filed by eight transgender servicemembers challenging executive order 14183 disqualifying transgender troops and the subsequent DoD policy implementing the order. The court noted that, “Collectively, the active-duty Plaintiffs have served in the U.S. military honorably and with distinction for over 130 years.”
In her 79-page opinion, Judge Reyes stated, “The law does not demand that the Court rubber-stamp illogical judgments based on conjecture.” She then methodically refuted all of the claims raised by the defendants, finding them unsupported or contradicted by the evidence and “soaked in animus and dripping with pretext.” For example, she pointed out that the Department of Defense spends approximately $41 million dollars per year for Viagra compared to an estimated $5.2 million for gender affirming care. Judge Reyes concluded, “Defendants do not explain why the former (and every other medical cost) is acceptable while the latter requires banning transgender persons from military service.”
The court found the executive order and the subsequent policy implementing the order to be unconstitutional. She issued a preliminary injunction, the effect of which “is to maintain the status quo of military policy regarding transgender service that existed immediately before Donald J. Trump issued Executive Order 14183.” This order is stayed until March 21, 2025, at 10:00 A.M. Eastern and will go into effect after that unless stayed by an appellate court.
Clearly there is more litigation to come. The MLTF applauds the plaintiffs and their counsel for all their hard work to date which has resulted in this comprehensive and well-reasoned opinion. The MLTF also stands ready to assist all those who are coping with the oppressive policies and culture of the current Department of Defense leadership of which the attempt to ban transgender service is just one part.
For further reading:
