President Donald Trump’s proposed plan to ban transgendered individuals from serving in the military has resulted in another lawsuit filed against the chief executive.
The latest suit, filed Tuesday in federal court in California, alleges that the exclusion of transgendered people from the military is asking the court to declare the proposed ban unconstitutional.
According to the suit, filed by transgendered individuals who “have taken steps to enlist in the military” as well as openly transgender active servicemembers and civil-rights organization Equality California, the Department of Defense announced that it would reverse its ban on transgendered people in the military in June 2016, following an exhaustive multi-year review.”
“Since that announcement, and in reliance thereon, hundreds of American servicemembers followed protocol and informed their chain of command that they are transgender. These transgender servicemembers have continued to serve without incident. In addition, as a consequence of the DOD’s announced policy, after years of unlawful exclusion, openly transgender persons have believed for the first time that it is possible for them to serve their country in the Armed Forces,” the suit reads.
However, that began to change this year, with Trump’s July 26 tweets stating that the U.S. military would return to the ban, and an August 25 formalization of the policy, in which he directed the Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security to reinstate the ban.
“The August 25 Directive inflicts serious injuries upon Plaintiffs and Plaintiff EQCA’s members. First, the August 25 Directive expressly forecloses transgender people from acceding into military service. Second, the August 25 Directive causes immediate and concrete injury to the current servicemember Plaintiffs, each of whom came out as transgender to their chain of command in reliance on the June 2016 Policy lifting the prior ban,” the lawsuit reads. “Specifically, the current servicemember Plaintiffs will be subject to involuntary separation beginning March 23, 2018, suspending their reasonable expectation of continued service. Third, the August 25 Directive denies the current servicemember Plaintiffs equal access to full medical care.”
Along with an order finding the ban unconstitutional, the suit is seeking unspecified damages.
In late August, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that it had filed its own suit against Trump and others in relation to the proposed ban.
“The ban violates the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and substantive due process by singling out transgender individuals for unequal and discriminatory treatment,” the lawsuit states. The ACLU also contends that “the ban discriminates based on sex and transgender status and that the ban is based on uninformed speculation, myths and stereotypes, moral disapproval, and a bare desire to harm this already vulnerable group.”
“Each and every claim made by the President Trump to justify this ban can be easily debunked by the conclusions drawn from the Department of Defense’s own review process,” said Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project. “Allowing men and women who are transgender to serve openly and providing them with necessary health care does nothing to harm military readiness or unit cohesion. Men and women who are transgender with the courage and capacity to serve deserve more from their commander-in-chief.”
Here's Everyone Who Dumped Trump This Week (Photos)
In the wake of Trump's response to a violent white supremacist rally, "Unite the Right," in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend, several business leaders, council members and media personalities severed ties with the president. Quite a lot actually.
Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich Plank and Krzanich both followed Frazier's lead in quitting the council, citing Trump's Charlottesville response. Trump tweeted condemnation of Frazier, who is black, but for some reason said nothing about these two.
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Alliance for American Manufacturing president Scott Paul Early Tuesday morning, Paul became the fourth CEO to quit the manufacturing jobs group, and yes, he cited Trump's response to Charlottesville as the reason.
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Trump Makes It Worse Tuesday afternoon, Trump shocked the country with an off-the-rails press conference at Trump Tower in which he appeared to defend and sympathize with the racist mob in Charlottesville. Trump insisted there was blame, as well as "many fine people" on both sides of the conflict in which nazi-sympathizer murdered one person and injured 19 more with his car.
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AFL-CIO Bails Out Soon after Trump's rant, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations president Richard Trumka resigned from the manufacturing council.
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Advisory Councils Disband On Wednesday, members of Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum agreed to disband after Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesville. Soon after, the president announced via Twitter that he was ending his executive councils.
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"I Voted For Trump, And I Sorely Regret It" That's the title of a New York Times op-ed written by Julius Krein, the founder and editor of pro-Trump website American Affairs. It went viral, though mainly because people were mocking it.
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Trump Loses a Murdoch James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox and more importantly son of media magnate and conservative icon Rupert Murdoch, dissed Trump in a widely circulated email to employees. He also said he and his wife will donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League over POTUS' response to Charlottesville.
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The Arts and Humanities Council Disses Trump, then Disbands The Arts and Humanities Comittee resigned Friday morning en masse with a letter written so that the first letters of every paragraph spelled “RESIST.” The members include Kal Penn, Paula Boggs, Chuck Close, Richard Cohen, Fred Goldring and more.
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Bannon Ousted White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon was reportedly fired Friday morning, though he insists he resigned July 27—giving two weeks’ notice—but his leaving was put off because of the events in Charlottesville. He will return to Breitbart news to go to “war” for Trump.
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Still More Resignations Politico reported Friday afternoon that a "wave of resignations" hit the Commerce Dept.'s "digital economy" board. More than half the members of the 15-member board resigned.
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A Billionaire BFF Bails on Trump Billionaire investor Carl Icahn stepped down Friday afternoon as unofficial special advisor to Trump, though he doesn't pile on. “I sincerely regret that because of your extremely busy schedule, as well as my own, I have not had the opportunity to spend nearly as much time as I’d hoped on regulatory issues,” he said in a letter to Trump.
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From the manufacturing council to James Murdoch, Trump’s response to Charlottesville has severed ties
In the wake of Trump's response to a violent white supremacist rally, "Unite the Right," in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend, several business leaders, council members and media personalities severed ties with the president. Quite a lot actually.