JUDGE: MILITARY MUST START ADMITTING TRANSGENDERS BY JANUARY 1, 2018
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
A federal judge has ruled on Monday that the U.S. military must begin
to admit transgenders — those who identify with and behave according to
the opposite sex — into its ranks by January 1, overturning President
Trump’s announcement in July that such individuals would be banned from
serving.
U.S. District Judge Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who in October
partially blocked the president’s ban while a lawsuit filed by
transgender soldiers proceeds in court, ruled that her injunction means
the Defense Department must follow through on the order given by
President Obama June 30, 2016 allowing transgender individuals to enlist
beginning January 1.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was set to begin processing transgenders into the service branches before President Trump’s July 26 Twitter announcement
that “the United States government will not accept or allow transgender
individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military. Our military
must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be
burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that
transgender in the military would entail.”
Referring to one of at least four transgender lawsuits against the
Trump ban, Kotelly ruled that “Secretary Mattis is a defendant in this
case, he is directly bound by the injunction, and he cannot change the
policy that existed before President Trump issued his order.”
While the Trump administration is appealing the order, there was no
indication that it would seek to block the January 1 recruiting
deadline. In a statement Justice Department spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam
simply said: “We disagree with the Court’s ruling and are currently
evaluating the next steps.”
The Department of Justice has contended that the lawsuit for which
Kotelly wrote the preliminary injunction is premature since the Defense
Department has not yet finalized its own plan on transgender troops. The
president had given the Pentagon until March to eliminate costly gender
reassignment surgeries and to determine how to deal with transgender
individuals who are currently serving in the military.
In late November President Trump’s ban was dealt second legal blow
when U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis in Baltimore ruled that the ban
“cannot possibly constitute a legitimate governmental interest,” saying
that it was not backed by any real concern over military need. “The lack
of any justification for the abrupt policy change,” wrote Garbis,
“combined with the discriminatory impact to a group of our military
service members who have served our country capably and honorably,
cannot possibly constitute a legitimate governmental interest.”
The ACLU, which is representing some of the transgender plaintiffs in
the lawsuit against the ban, applauded the latest legal maneuvers.
“We’re pleased that the courts have stepped in to ensure that trans
service members are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,”
said ACLU attorney Joshua Block in a statement.
By contrast, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, which has
been a clarion voice for common-sense military policy, responded to
Kotelly’s ruling by noting that “this is where judicial activism is
leading us. The courts have moved beyond legislating on the invented
rights of abortion and same-sex marriage to clearly usurping the
constitutional authority of the executive branch.”
Perkins noted that President Trump “has the primary task of
protecting Americans, but we see the courts weakening his immigration
policies designed to protect America from threats and now telling the
commander-in-chief how to run the military.”
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SEE ALSO:
http://christiannews.net/2017/12/04/federal-judge-trump-admin-must-allow-transgenders-to-enlist-in-military-beginning-jan-1/
EXCERPTS:
WASHINGTON — A federal judge appointed to the bench
by then-President Bill Clinton has issued an order clarifying her recent
injunction against the Trump administration’s ban on “transgender”
enlistment in the U.S. Armed Forces, and has outlined that the
government must allow the enlistment beginning Jan. 1.
“[The previous] order was to revert to the status quo with regard
to accession and retention that existed before the issuance of the
presidential memorandum—that is, the retention and accession policies
established in the June 30, 2016 directive-type memorandum as modified
by Secretary of Defense James Mattis on June 30, 2017,” wrote U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
“Those policies allowed for the accession of transgender individuals
into the military beginning on January 1, 2018,” she continued. “Any
action by any of the defendants that changes this status quo
is preliminarily enjoined.”
