A federal court has blocked Trump’s transgender ban yet again.
This Friday, June 15, Lambda Legal and OutServce-SLDN represented two organizations, the Seattle based Gender Justice League and the Military Partner Association, in a lawsuit titled Karnoski v. Trump.
That lawsuit has now led to the blocking of Trump’s latest attempt to ban transgender service members in the U.S. military.
If left alone, the executive order would have blocked any transgender people from joining the military after January 2019. Any currently enlisted members, however, would have been allowed to stay on.
But, a Seattle federal court has decided to rule favor of Lambda Legal’s nine individual plaintiffs, three of whom who want to join the military and six who are currently enlisted, and against Trump’s ban.
Lambda Legal’s Senior Attorney Peter Renn had this to say about the decision:
“Yet again, the Trump Administration has tried to implement and expedite discrimination, and yet again, the court has said no.”
“You would think the administration would get tired of all the losing, and more importantly, would read the writing on the wall and abandon this discriminatory and harmful scheme to prevent brave and qualified transgender people from serving their country.”
“Tomorrow, I will put on the uniform of U.S. Army and do my duty, as I did today and yesterday, and have done for more than 13 years,’ said Staff Sergeant Cathrine (Katie) Schmid.”
“Being transgender has no impact on my ability to perform my duties. I’m grateful that the court to date has recognized the value in our service, and I look forward to the day when we can put this argument behind us and focus on what’s really important– the accomplishment of our mission, and the welfare of our service members.”
Now, we’ll wait and see how the Trump administration responds. In the meantime, you can read more about the lawsuit at Lamda Legal's website.