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Groups are ready to file the first lawsuit to challenge Trump’s new order on transgender troops
Original Publication Date: January 28, 2025 10:10AM
Publication Updated: April 10, 2025 7:57PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Advocacy groups are set to file the first lawsuit Tuesday challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order for the Pentagon to revise its policy on transgender troops, likely setting up ban on their service in the armed forces.
It is the same legal team that spent years fighting Trump’s ban on transgender troops in his first administration, tying it up in the courts before then-President Joe Biden scrapped it when he took office.
Trump’s new order, signed Monday, claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle” and is harmful to military readiness. It requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue a revised policy.
“The law is very clear that the government can’t base policies on disapproval of particular groups of people. That’s animus. And animus-based laws are presumed to be invalid and unconstitutional,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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