Second judge blocks trans military ban: ‘Government’s arguments are not persuasive’

Another federal judge in Washington state has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at banning trans people from serving in the military.

This is the second injunction against the policy, after Judge Ana Reyes called the ban “insulting” and said that it violated equal protection rights.

U.S District Court Judge Benjamin Settle, based in Tacoma, said that the administration has offered no explanation as to why transgender troops should be banned after trans service members have been in the military without issues for the last four years.

In his ruling, Settle said: “The government’s arguments are not persuasive, and it is not an especially close question on this record. The government’s unrelenting reliance on deference to military judgment is unjustified in the absence of any evidence supporting ‘the military’s’ new judgment reflected in the Military Ban.”

Trump signed an executive order on January 27 saying that being trans “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honourable, truthful, and disciplined, lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness.

This led to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issuing a policy that disqualified all transgender people from military service.

Several long-serving transgender military members have said the ban is insulting and discriminatory and that their firing would cause significant damage to their careers.

Settle highlighted the specific case of U.S Navy Commander Emily Shilling, a trans woman who has served for nearly two decades, and said that there is “no claim and no evidence that she is now, or ever was, a detriment to her unit’s cohesion or to the military’s lethality or readiness”.

“Absent an injunction, she will promptly discharged solely because she is transgender,” Settle wrote.

Reyes’ ruling to block the policy has been temporarily put on hold pending an appeal from the government but would be put into effect if “any action occurs that negatively impacts” trans people in the military.

Thousands of transgender people currently serve in the military but represent less than one per cent of active-duty service members.