During a contentious hearing Tuesday, a federal judge peppered Justice Department lawyers with hours of questions about how they justified President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for a ban on transgender troops joining the military.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said she believed there were more than two sexes and asked Justice Department lawyers for additional legal arguments with biological findings that show there are just two. She voiced skepticism that adding pronouns to email signature lines hurt military readiness. And Reyes asked how the Pentagon could avoid banning transgender troops under Trump’s order that said the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.”
Jason Lynch, a department lawyer who defended the order, said it wouldn’t necessarily lead to a complete ban on transgender troops. But Reyes said it looked like it would.
“He would say, ‘Of course it is,’” Reyes said of Trump. “Because he calls it a transgender ban because all the language in it is indicative if not requires a transgender ban.”
Under an executive order on Jan. 27, Trump called on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to develop guidance for military service within 30 days and medical standards within 60 days.
Reyes said she wouldn’t rule on a possible injunction against the order before the 30-day deadline next week but would wait to see what policy the Pentagon develops. But she said administration officials agreed not to change the treatment of transgender troops during that period.
Lawyers who represented the troops from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders were asked almost no questions during the first three hours of the hearing before Reyes. Reyes got their agreement that the military mission can’t be diluted by transgender troops, and must be mentally and physically fit to live in austere conditions.
The hearing came as a dwindling majority supports transgender people serving in the military. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans support transgender service members, according to Gallup poll results released last week. But the 58% figure reflects a gradual decline since 2019, when 71% of Americans were in favor. In 2021, the figure was 66%.