ACLU Responds to Trump Administration Attempts to Delay Enlistment of Transgender Service Members

RICHMOND, Va. — The American Civil Liberties Union today responded to the Trump administration’s ongoing attempts to halt a court order that prohibits the Pentagon from implementing the ban on transgender people serving in the military.

Under the current order, the government must allow transgender individuals to enlist in the military beginning on January 1, 2018.

On Thursday, the Trump administration filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to stay part of the district court’s injunction in the ACLU’s case challenging the ban, Stone v. Trump. The administration also filed a comparable motion to stay the order in the district court, which has not yet ruled on that motion.

The ACLU filed briefs on Friday in the district court and today at the appeals court opposing the government’s motions, arguing that allowing the ban to go into place would cause irreparable harm to current and potential service members who are transgender.

“Three courts have now held that President Trump’s attempt to ban transgender people from the military is blatantly unconstitutional, but the Pentagon continues to drag its heels and try to implement Trump’s discriminatory ban,” said Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project. “The ACLU will fight every step of the way for the right of transgender people to live and serve their country with dignity, and we won’t stop until the full ban is struck down permanently.”

The briefs can be found here:
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/stone-v-trump-opposition-emergency-stay