A federal court judge in Washington, D.C., has largely blocked President Trump’s controversial ban on transgender people serving in the military.
The judge, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, issued a preliminary injunction on Monday halting two portions of Trump’s presidential memorandum issued in late August, including his reinstatement of the ban on transgender service members that was in place before June 2016.
Kollar-Kotelly also temporarily stopped Trump’s move to block recruiting openly transgender people for the military.
However, she did not block the portion of the memo directing that government funds may not be used for sex reassignment procedures.
Kollar-Kotelly was ruling on a lawsuit, Jane Doe v. Donald Trump, brought by several active-duty transgender service members to stop the implementation of the ban.
In late July, Trump tweeted that he would not allow transgender individuals to serve “in any capacity in the U.S. military.” Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued a statement after those tweets, announcing that no immediate personnel decisions would be made until after a formal presidential memorandum was issued.
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
….victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
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SOURCE: ABC News, Elizabeth McLaughlin and Luis Martinez