The White House has formally asked the US Supreme Court to intervene and review lower court rulings that have blocked President Donald Trump's attempts to bar transgender people from serving in the military.

The Trump administration had given a federal appeals court until Friday to rule after it heard one of the cases last month.

Trump's second attempt at a ban on transgender people serving in the US armed forces specifically targets those who experience a condition called gender dysphoria. Trump has named Defense Secretary James Mattis as the architect of the ban.

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Undoing Obama

Critics have accused the Trump administration of attempting to discriminate against transgender people by establishing strict legal definitions of gender based on biological features.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, gender dysphoria "is not the same as gender nonconformity, which refers to behaviors not matching the gender norms or stereotypes of the gender assigned at birth."

Instead, "gender dysphoria involves a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender and the gender with which he/she/they identify." The association opposes the ban.

Former President Barack Obama's administration loosened the definitions of gender, triggering a heated debate across the country. The Supreme Court is unlikely to review the cases before federal appeals courts have ruled on them.

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Transgender models on magazine covers Giuliana Farfalla, German Playboy A first for the German edition of Playboy: Reality television star and model Giuliana Farfalla made it to the cover of the magazine, published a week ahead of her appearance in the show "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!" The 21-year-old also appeared on "Germany's Next Top Model" in hopes to "encourage other transgender and transsexual people," she said.

Transgender models on magazine covers Caroline 'Tula' Cossey, Playboy Playboy's first-ever transgender model, Caroline "Tula" Cossey, starred in a pictorial feature in 1981 (the above picture shows her on a later cover, from the 1990s). She, too, was fighting for recognition transgender rights. Hugh Hefner's son Cooper, now the creative director of Playboy Enterprises, said featuring transgender models was "the right thing to do."

Transgender models on magazine covers Laverne Cox, Time Magazine A trailblazer for the transgender community, Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine in 2014. Cox is known to a wider audience for her role as a trans woman prisoner, the hairdresser Sophia Burset, on the popular Netflix series "Orange is the New Black."

Transgender models on magazine covers National Geographic special issue on gender Featuring a nine-year-old transgender person on its cover, the January 2017 special issue looked at how young people from around the world, "old enough to have sage views on gender," are affected by gender issues. The issue also examined challenges for girls today — including anonymous bullying and body-shaming — and how "society makes a man."

Transgender models on magazine covers Caitlyn Jenner, Vanity Fair Former Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner publicly announced the name change to Caitlyn and her identity as a trans woman in a July 2015 Vanity Fair cover story. She also starred in the docu-series "I Am Cait," which documented her gender transition and subsequent new life as a woman.

Transgender models on magazine covers Amelia Gapin, Women's Running In July 2016, marathon runner Amelia Gapin was featured on the cover of Women's Running. "Being a transgender woman on the cover of a magazine dedicated to women says people like me are not just being seen, but being seen for who we are," she told the magazine in an interview. "It's a feeling of acceptance, inclusivity and being welcomed."

Transgender models on magazine covers Hari Nef, Elle UK Featured on the cover of Elle UK in September 2016, US actor and model Hari Nef would rather not be defined by gender. "'In an ideal world, I wouldn't have to change my body," she told the magazine. "I wouldn't have to do all this stuff, I wouldn't have to be pretty, or 'feminine' and people would respect that."

Transgender models on magazine covers Valentina Sampaio, Vogue Paris Vogue Paris put a transgender model on its cover for the first time in March 2017: Brazil's Valentina Sampaio. "The day when a transsexual poses for a magazine cover and it will be no longer necessary to write an editorial on the subject, we will know that the fight has been won," said the fashion magazine's editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt.

Transgender models on magazine covers Ben Melzer, Men's Health Germany Muscle-packed arms, a six-pack and a beard: Ben Melzer, the first openly male transgender model to star on the cover of Men's Health, also hopes he can change attitudes. He underwent the change from woman to man at age 23. He's now, he says, "the person I always wanted to be." He wants to be an example for others who feel they were "born in the wrong body," adding, "it is 100 percent worth it." Author: Dagmar Breitenbach



ls/cmk (Reuters, AP)