The LGBT community wins another victory against the Trump administration.
On Monday, a federal court ruled that the Trump administration could not enforce a policy banning certain transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, becoming the second court in the United States to rule against Trump’s policy since it was unveiled in March.
President Donald Trump announced back in March that he would support a plan created by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to severely regulate the military service of transgender people who experience a condition called gender dysphoria.
The policy replaced a ban on transgender service members that Trump announced last year on Twitter, citing concern over military focus and medical costs.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington denied a request by the administration to lift an injunction she had issued against Trump’s original ban.
Her ruling follows one by a U.S. judge in Seattle who in April also refused to allow the new policy to go into effect. The government has appealed that ruling to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The administration argued that the new policy, which also bars anyone who requires or has undergone a gender transition, was no longer a categorical ban.
The DOJ has yet to comment on the ruling.
