One of the largest LGBT+ legal nonprofit organisations will sue Trump over transgender military ban
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One of the largest LGBT+ legal non-profit organisations has announced its intentions to launch a lawsuit against President Trump over his military ban on transgender troops.
Lambda legal is one of the largest and oldest legal groups that advocate for LGBT+ rights in the US and now the group is taking aim at the transphobic policy that was announced by Trump on Twitter last week.
Protesters of the trans military ban (Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
It comes after a policy was allegedly developed in the White House which aims to push out current serving trans military personnel.
“A Guidance Policy for Open Transgender Service Phase Out” was reportedly developed by the White House Counsel’s office on Friday, according to the Los Angeles Blade.
The policy would see trans troops pushed out of their jobs at the end of their contracts and denied promotions so that they are fired.
The policy is allegedly being headed up by Defense Secretary James Mattis.
The source told the Blade: “The administration wants to get rid of transgender service members as fast as they can.”
For the time being the policy would allow transgender personnel to continue their service for the time being but would offer no protections when it comes to contract renewal or other potential times that they could be let go.
In a statement, Lambda Legal deemed the Trump administration’s actions dishonourable.
Sasha Buchert, a staff attorney and trans military veteran, said in the statement: “The safety of all service members—transgender or not—is undermined by a policy like this that distracts from the important missions they have for no valid reason.
“It is also a slap in the face of the leadership who have worked diligently to develop and implement the current policy which has been in place for more than a year without incident.”
“This mean-spirited and discriminatory attack on our community is capricious, irrational, and clearly driven by anti-LGBT forces in the administration who care more about harming transgender people than keeping our nation safe. It is clearly unconstitutional,” Buchert added.
Lambda are working with OutServe-Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a nonpartisan nonprofit for active duty LGBTQ service members, to file the lawsuit.
However, they have not yet disclosed when it will be filed or who they are representing.
