The Supreme Court has ruled against transgender people serving in the military, legitimizing President Donald Trump‘s discriminatory agenda.
On May 6, the nation’s highest court decided to allow Trump’s trans military ban to take effect after a lower court had halted its enforcement. Because the decision was part of the “shadow docket” ‒ emergency appeals decided without full briefing or oral argument, and without any written opinion ‒ we don’t know why the justices ruled this way or how the vote was divided, although the three liberal judges on the court say they would have rejected the request that the case be heard.
Trans servicemembers have done nothing to deserve this. Like their cisgender counterparts, they simply want to serve their country. For the time being, they are barred from doing so while legal challenges continue. Even if this ruling is temporary, I’m afraid of what the future holds for our trans neighbors.
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Days after being sworn in for his second term, Trump signed an executive order titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” alleging that the military had fallen victim to “radical gender ideology.”
Though the executive order never uses the word “transgender,” it alleges that someone whose gender does not match their sex assigned at birth goes against the “honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle” members of the armed forces are expected to live.
Trump also initiated a trans troop ban in his first term as president, but this new decree goes further by discharging active duty servicemembers as well as barring them from enlisting. The ban also led to a pause on some gender-affirming care, such as hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgeries.
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Remember, this is a very small portion of the 2 million servicemembers in the United States. There are an estimated 10,000 to 14,000 trans servicemembers, with only about 1,000 of them requiring treatment. This means that only .05% of active duty and reserve forces require gender-affirming care.
Trans people make up about 1% of the U.S. population, but based on Republican fearmongering, you’d assume that percentage is much, much higher.
In March, a federal district court judge ruled against the ban. One of the rulings was later upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Supreme Court ruled that the ban would be allowed to take effect while the legal battle continues in the lower courts – a sign that they will likely uphold the ban in the long term.
For a group that claims the left cares too much about “gender ideology,” Republican leaders really seem to care about how people live and are excited to legislate against it.
From the start of Trump’s second term, he has focused on gender through a series of executive orders declaring that the United States would only recognize two sexes, banning trans women from participating in sports that align with their gender, and banning gender-affirming care for trans youth.
While he has failed to improve the lives of the working class, he has managed to villainize an entire group of people. Now, the Supreme Court is saying discrimination that has become a fundamental Republican value is A-OK.
I fail to see how targeting trans people improves our country. If gender were as innate to our being as Republicans claim, rigid gender norms wouldn’t have to be enforced by the government.
According to The Williams Institute, transgender people are about twice as likely as all adults in the United States to have served in the military. The plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case argued that having trans servicemembers improves the military, instead of hindering it.
I believe this isn’t just true of the armed forces – having trans visibility in all facets of American life makes us a better country.
The fact that the Supreme Court is ruling against trans people in this instance is a harbinger of what’s to come. The country seems like it will continue to go backward on any progress made under Democratic presidents, and we will all be worse off because of it. Trump is brute-forcing America into a new era of government-mandated discrimination, and it appears the Supreme Court is willing to join Republicans in letting it happen.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno
With Trump's ban on trans troops in effect, US tests lawful discrimination | Opinion – USA Today
