Federal Judge Orders Immediate Halt to Military Transgender Ban

Three of the plaintiffs in the Washington case opposing Trump's transgender ban.

Metro Weekly reports:

A federal court in Seattle has ordered an immediate halt to the Trump administration’s plan to ban transgender people from serving openly in the U.S. Armed Forces. Going forward, the White House and Pentagon will be prohibited from moving to exclude out transgender service members and recruits until the case is resolved in the federal courts.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman, of the Western District of Washington, ruled in favor of a request from Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN asking for an injunction to stop the Pentagon from taking actions inconsistent with the Obama-era policy, currently in effect, allowing transgender individuals to serve openly.

Pechman ruled that, without the injunction, transgender service members would suffer irreparable harm. She also found that the plaintiffs, including several transgender active duty service members, are likely to succeed in convincing the court that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it attempted to issue a blanket-ban excluding all transgender individuals, regardless of their qualifications, from serving.

See full story here.