President Donald Trump’s ruthless war against transgender members of the military has met yet another stumbling block. The Washington Post reports that a second federal judge has stopped the proposed ban of transgender individuals in the military, as service members are “already suffering harmful consequences.”
These “consequences,” as listed by Maryland U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis in his ruling, include “the cancellation and postponements of surgeries, the stigma of being set apart as inherently unfit, facing the prospect of discharge and inability to commission as an officer, the inability to move forward with long-term medical plans, and the threat to their prospects of obtaining long-term assignments.”
The proposed ban on transgender people serving in the military was announced by Trump via Twitter in July, citing apocryphal “extra costs” that have not actually materialized. The challenge to the proposed ban was filed by 6 service members in Maryland, after Trump issued an order that reversed a policy that allowed transgender individuals to serve openly in the military and to also receive money for sex-reassignment surgery.
According to lawyers in the case in Maryland, two of the plaintiffs are trying to schedule surgical care related to their transition; as it stands right now, they’ll be unable to get their surgery before Trump’s policy starts in March.
