The lawsuit, filed Monday by six trans service members, is the first head-on legal challenge the Trump directive barring trans people from enlisting or serving

Donald Trump’s attempt to exclude transgender people from military service is based on “discredited myths” and “moral disapproval” and violates the constitution, six transgender service members claimed in a lawsuit filed Monday.

The suit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in federal court, is the first head-on legal challenge to a directive Trump signed on Friday, which instructs the defense secretary, James Mattis, to bar trans people from enlisting in the armed forces and grants him the power to expel those already serving.

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The six service members suing the Trump administration have served more than 70 years combined in the navy, army, air force, national guard and marines corps. All six are fearful that Trump’s directive will lead to their expulsion from the military, with several claiming they have already been impacted.

“Each and every claim made by the President Trump to justify this ban can be easily debunked by the conclusions drawn from the Department of Defense’s own review process,” said Joshua Block, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU. “Men and women who are transgender with the courage and capacity to serve deserve more from their commander-in-chief.”

The Pentagon currently permits transgender individuals already serving in the armed forces to do so openly, a policy enacted in June 2016 under the Obama administration. When Trump announced his intentions to reinstate a ban, the Pentagon was still deliberating its position on transgender people wishing to enlist.

Trump’s directive calls for a new policy to ban trans people from enlisting and cut off healthcare coverage for transition-related surgery, a bugbear for many congressional conservatives, within six months. The Pentagon currently covers medical expenses for transition therapies, and many major medical organizations and insurers consider transition-related surgery and hormone therapies to be necessary medical care.

An unnamed plaintiff, Senior Airman John Doe, claims he was prevented by Trump’s directive from having transition-related surgery he had already scheduled. Doe, 25, has spent roughly six years on active duty and was once awarded “airman of the year”.

An airman in the national guard, 41-year-old Seven Ero George, said he intends to join the army nurse corps when he completes a nursing degree but that Trump’s ban would prevent him from doing so.



Staff Sgt Kate Cole, 27, claims she may be prevented from undergoing transition-related surgery already approved by defense department medical personnel.

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For the thousands of trans people estimated to be serving in the military, Trump instructs Mattis to decide whether they ought to be expelled based on their deployability – their ability to serve in a war zone, participate in exercises or live for months on a ship. Studies and advocates place the number of trans people currently serving in the armed forces between 1,300 and 11,000.

Obama lifted the previous ban on transgender service after an inquiry led by his defense secretary, Ashton Carter, concluded the ban’s reversal was unlikely to have a negative impact on military readiness.

Transition-related surgery, which has been cited by critics as costly and disruptive, would reduce the deployability of no more than 130 service members every year and make up no more than 0.13% of spending on healthcare for active duty military members, according to a study Carter commissioned by the Rand Corporation.

The president’s tweets in June appeared to blindside top military leaders.

Trump reportedly made a snap decision to reinstate a ban on transgender military service after some House Republicans threatened to tank a spending package for the Pentagon unless it stopped funding transition-related surgeries. The spending package contained funds for Trump’s signature campaign promise, a wall along the Mexican border.