A federal appeals court in Washington on Friday ruled in favor of the government lifting an injunction that bars the Pentagon from implementing its policy that would ban service by most people identifying as transgender.
However three other cases making their way through the courts still prevent the Trump administration policy from being enforced.
The ruling came in the case of Doe v. Trump, in which transgender advocates argued that the Pentagon’s policy was unconstitutional because it was effectively a blanket ban on all transgender service.
In lifting the injunction on implementation of the new policy, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that a lower court erred in finding the plan developed by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was a blanket ban, ruling the Mattis plan banned only transgender troops who “have gender dysphoria or who are unwilling to serve in their biological sex.”
Transgender military members may continue to be serve and to enlist while three nationwide preliminary injunctions preventing implementation of the ban are adjudicated in federal district courts.
Transgender advocates called the ruling “a devastating slap in the face” to transgender service members who have proved their fitness to serve and their dedication.
“We will keep fighting this cruel and irrational policy, which serves no purpose other than to weaken the military and punish transgender service members for their patriotism and service,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit in the case.
[Also read: Kavanaugh could cement Trump’s transgender military ban]
