In January of 2025, President Trump signed an executive order targeting active-duty and prospective service members with gender dysphoria. Since then, multiple lawsuits have been filed against the order. Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the Trump administration’s ban on transgender military service is unconstitutional. Judge Robert Wilkins in an opinion that the policy ” based solely upon gender dysphoria was pretextual” and that the policy was “premised, at least in part, on a non-legitimate state interest to harm the politically unpopular group of transgender persons.” Wilkins added that President Trump “declared transgender people as categorically unfit for military service explicitly because of their gender identity.” The administration is expected to appeal this decision. After the ruling, Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of Defense, wrote on social media: “See you at SCOTUS.”
A civil action has also been filed in the U.S. District Court for D.C. against the administration’s policy. This suit seeks to not only proceed on behalf of the plaintiffs in the case, but to include all transgender people currently serving in the military as well as those seeking to enlist.
