Hegseth’s 30-day military trans ban: Will this judge’s questions block it?

27 February

Pete Hegseth in Nashville on May 25, 2023 (Gage Skidmore)

A federal judge is hammering government lawyers with sharp questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s efforts to impose a broad ban on transgender service members, which, if carried out, could effectively purge an estimated 15,000 members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

President Donald Trump early on issued executive orders targeting the LGBTQ community, including erasing federal recognition of transgender people by defining what he says is the U.S. government’s official position on sex and gender.

On his first day in office, President Trump “signed executive orders proclaiming that the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and ending ‘radical and wasteful’ diversity, equity and inclusion programs inside federal agencies,” NBC News reported.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s order from last week bans any new transgender troops and any procedures supporting transgender troops’ gender identity, despite the majority of the country supporting transgender troops openly serving.

A new memo moves to ban them.

“The department must ensure it is building ‘one force’ without subgroups defined by anything other than ability or mission adherence. Efforts to split our troops along lines of identity weaken our force and make us vulnerable. Such efforts must not be tolerated or accommodated,” Hegseth’s memo read, The Guardian reported.

Earlier, President Trump signed an executive order, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” that read:

“It is the policy of the United States Government to establish high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity. This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria. This policy is also inconsistent with shifting pronoun usage or use of pronouns that inaccurately reflect an individual’s sex.”

Last week, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden appointee, appeared skeptical of both the President’s and the Department of Justice’s stance on transgender service members, and blasted Department of Justice attorneys.

On Thursday, Judge Reyes was back, this time with even more pointed and specific questions about transgender troops serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Judge Reyes pointed to a Department of Defense memo ordering a purge of all transgender troops within 30 days, unless they can obtain a waiver stating their “warfighting” skills require them to continue to serve.

According to Politico’s Kyle Cheney, Judge Reyes has requested a detailed breakdown of Defense Department spending from 2015 to 2024. She appears to be attempting to determine how much the Defense Department spends on transgender service members compared to the total for all troops, in areas including psychotherapy, surgical care, and elective surgical procedures.

Reyes has also requested lawyers identify the total number of transgender service members, and any “mental health constraint,” other than gender dysphoria, that the DoD has previously deemed inconsistent with “honesty, humility, and integrity.”

Last week, Judge Reyes sparred with the DOJ’s attorney over transgender service members.

She said Hegseth’s order “calls an entire category of people dishonest, dishonorable, undisciplined, immodest, who lack integrity, people who have taken an oath to defend this country, people who have been under fire, people who have received medals for taking fire for this country. I want to know from the government whether that language expresses ‘animus.’ Does that express animus?”

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