Patricia King, who in 2015 was the first infantry soldier to come out as transgender, said Trump's executive order sets the stage to block new enlistments, restrict reenlistments and deny access to medically necessary care for transgender service members.
"It creates a hostile environment that could push transgender service members out over time," King said. "When we start telling transgender people that they can't serve, we start telling them that they can't
be heroes, we suggest that they should be stigmatized and demonized."
Trump's order actually doesn't mention the transgender community or immediately ban them but says troops with a "false gender identity" are not fit to serve.
Trump said in the order that troops with "gender dysphoria "were "not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member" and military service "must be reserved for those mentally and physically fit for duty."
"To ensure we have the most lethal fighting force in the world, we will get transgender ideology the hell out of our military," Trump said Monday at a congressional retreat. "It's going to be gone."
Trump on Monday also banned the military from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and programs. Trump has cracked down on DEI throughout the federal government and signed an executive order proclaiming there are only two sexes: male and female.
But Trump's banning of transgender troops has received the most backlash.
Cait Smith, director of LGBTQI+ Policy at the Center for American Progress, said Trump's ban was "abhorrent" and "weakens our military's readiness."
"No one should be forced to choose between living as their authentic self and serving their country," Smith said. "That's not the freedom our troops put their lives on the line to defend."
The Human Rights Campaign filed a lawsuit together with Lambda Legal challenging the order they said was unconstitutional.
GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights also filed a lawsuit to challenge the ban on behalf of six servicemembers and two seeking enlistment.
After Trump's transgender troop ban in his first term in 2017, court challenges kept it from taking effect from two years. Former President Biden reversed the ban in 2021.
Army Second Lt. Nicolas Talbott said "every individual must meet the same objective and rigorous qualifications in order to serve."
"It has been my dream and my goal to serve my country for as long as I can remember," Talbott said in a statement shared by GLAD and NLCR. "My being transgender has no bearing on my dedication to the mission, my commitment to my unit, or my ability to perform my duties in accordance with the high standards expected of me and every servicemember."
Alaina Kupec, a transgender veteran who is also a Republican advocate, said she was confident in the judicial process to prevail but noted it would be a distraction for the country and the military.
"It's going to reduce our readiness at a time where we're already struggling to meet recruiting goals on the enlisted side," Kupec said. "And I feel like this is just not the time with what we have going on in the Red Sea, in the Asia Pacific region."
Read more at TheHill.com.
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