Demonstrators hold and wave the Trans community pride flag during the ‘Yo Marcho Trans’ annual transgender communities pride parade in Bogota, Colombia, July 7, 2023. (Photo by Sebastian Barros/NurPhoto via AP)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration can move forward with its ban on transgender people in the military.
Prior to entering the Oval Office for his second term, there was speculation Trump would implement such a ban on the U.S.’s armed forces. It was previously reported that Trump would medically discharged the 15,000 active service members who identify as trans, but his transition team denied those reports in late November.
Not long after the start of Trump’s term, he did reaffirm his intent to ban trans people from joining the military — following through on a promise made during his first term. That ban was quickly blocked by U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes, who wrote that the ban’s language was “unabashedly demeaning” and that “its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the administration may implement the ban while it’s still being challenged. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson were the three dissenting votes.
During Trump’s first term, he argued that the presence of trans service members brought about “tremendous medical costs and disruption” to the military.