LGBT rights groups on Wednesday hit the Trump administration with legal action in response to the president’s tweets that the US military “will not accept or allow … transgender individuals to serve in any capacity”.

Representing five trans people who are active-duty military, the LGBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a lawsuit saying their clients would be fired or could substantially lose out on retirement benefits if Trump moved forward with a ban.

Separately, the American Civil Liberties Union notified the White House that it intended to bring a lawsuit in the future and expected the White House to preserve all the relevant documents in preparation.



“We are continuing to monitor the situation for an official policy announcement from the Pentagon,” an ACLU spokesperson said.

Their salvo comes even as it remains unclear if the Pentagon will take real action to ban trans people from military service.

At the time of Trump’s tweets, which he sent 26 July, a debate was already ongoing about what the Pentagon’s policy should be toward incoming recruits who openly identify as trans. Meanwhile, top military officials have made clear that Trump’s tweets alone cannot alter the policy toward current trans service members, who are still permitted to serve openly.

“There will be no modifications to the current policy until the president’s direction has been received by the secretary of defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance,” Marine Gen Joe Dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the day after Trump’s announcement. “In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect.”

The White House itself could not say whether Trump intends to expel any transgender individuals who are already on active duty.

A 2016 estimate put the total number of trans people in the military at roughly 11,000.