老澳门开奖结果 Seeks Immediate Halt to Trump鈥檚 Transgender Service Member Ban

September 14, 2017 10:45 am

老澳门开奖结果 Affiliate
Media Contact
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004
United States

BALTIMORE 鈥 The 老澳门开奖结果 and the law firm Covington & Burling LLP today asked a judge to immediately halt to the Trump administration鈥檚 ban on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military while their lawsuit challenging the ban moves through the court system.

The motion for preliminary injunction was filed on behalf of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Maryland and six current members of the armed forces who are transgender: Petty Officer First Class Brock Stone, Senior Airman John Doe, Airman First Class Seven Ero George, Petty Officer First Class Teagan Gilbert, Staff Sergeant Kate Cole, and Technical Sergeant Tommie Parker.

In the filing, the 老澳门开奖结果 argues that a preliminary injunction is needed to ensure that irreparable harm is not done to military personnel and potential enlistees who are transgender while the case is resolved in the courts. The 老澳门开奖结果 motion argues that the ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and substantive due process as well as the statutory right to medical care that all service members enjoy.

鈥淢en and women who are transgender should be allowed to serve their country rather than being exposed to this level of uncertainty and harm,鈥 said Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 LGBT & HIV Project. 鈥淲e鈥檙e confident that the courts will eventually strike down this unconstitutional ban. So we鈥檙e demanding a court order to prevent this shameful policy from ever being implemented.鈥

At the culmination of a thorough process, the Department of Defense concluded in 2016 that there was no basis for the military to exclude transgender individuals from openly serving their country, subject to the same fitness requirements as other service members. This review process carefully considered and rejected the notion that medical costs, military readiness, or other factors presented any reason to discriminate against transgender individuals, many of whom had already been serving with honor in silence for years.

For example, Petty Officer First Class Brock Stone has served in the U.S. Navy for 11 years, including a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan. He has received extensive and costly training and is skilled in his field. He has devoted and risked his life for the United States and is seeking nothing more than the ability to continue to do so on the same terms as his fellow service members.

The other individual plaintiffs are:

  • Staff Sergeant Cole has served in the U.S. Army for almost 10 years, including a one-year deployment to Afghanistan where she served as a team leader and designated marksman.
  • Senior Airman Doe has served for approximately six years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, where he was awarded 鈥淎irman of the Year鈥 for his flight and hopes to serve in the armed forces for his entire career.
  • Airman First Class George is a member of the Air National Guard. He is training as a nurse and intends to pursue a commission in the U.S. Army.
  • Petty Officer First Class Gilbert has served in the U.S. Navy for 13 years, including a one-year deployment to Afghanistan, and currently serves as an Information Technology specialist.
  • Technical Sergeant Parker served in the Marine Corps for four years and has served in the Air National Guard for 16 years, currently as a fuel technician.

The plaintiffs are represented by the 老澳门开奖结果, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Maryland, and Covington & Burling LLP.

The filing can be found here:
/legal-document/stone-v-trump-amended-complaint

The memo in support of the motion for preliminary injunction can be found here:
/legal-document/stone-v-trump-memo-support-motion-preliminary-injunction

More information about the case can be found here:
/cases/stone-v-trump


Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues in This Press Release