In accordance with the recent article by MARK LANDLER in The New York Times, Reprieve, an anti-death-penalty group, and the military rights organization GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders have filed a lawsuit stopping the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent transgender people from joining the armed forces. The restrictions, initiated by the White House, have yet to take effect, including the bars against transgender individuals who have already joined the military and the ban on their reception into the U.S. military as of January 1st 2018. The DoD, in their initial position, stated that transgender service members were “taking medicine that undermines military readiness,” while now suggesting they pose no greater risk than anyone else with diabetes or high cholesterol, yet the Trump administration still insists on their removal. The lawsuit aims to overturn Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ implementation of the policy, on the grounds that it directly violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
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