Donald Trump asks US court to fast-track trans military ban ruling
Alex Wong/Getty
Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to fast-track a review of his administration’s proposed transgender military ban.
The Trump administration yesterday asked for an “immediate review” of the plans by the Supreme Court after they were blocked by three lower courts.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty
The Trump administration has been unable to implement the transgender military ban because it was blocked by lower courts.
Transgender military ban
Trump first announced the anti-trans policy on Twitter in 2017, where he said that the military could not be burdened with “the tremendous medical costs and disruption” that transgender people would bring.
Under Trump’s plan, transgender people would only be allowed to serve in the military in “limited circumstances.”
This is the fourth time in recent months that the Trump administration has tried to bypass the normal courts process.
If the request is granted, it would mean they would skip appeals courts and go straight to the Supreme Court, according to USA Today.
Paul Kitagaki Jr.-Pool/Getty
Trump’s administration has asked the Supreme Court to consolidate the disputes and to consider them before its term ends in June or July of 2019.
Trump’s proposed transgender military ban is just one of the anti-trans measures his administration has tried to introduce since he was elected president.
Anti-transgender
Just last month, it was revealed that the Trump administration are considering implementing a policy that would change the definition of sex and gender.
Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty
According to The New York Times, the leaked proposal begins: “Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth.
“The sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person’s sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence.”
Perhaps most worryingly, the report also claims that the department urges the administration to determine a more rigorous and uniform definition of gender “grounded in science” and that a person’s sex be unchangeable.
As a result of the leaked memo, 1,600 scientists signed a letter to the Trump administration saying the memo was “fundamentally inconsistent not only with science, but also with ethical practices, human rights, and basic dignity.”
The move also led Bernie Sanders to call Trump “the most racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted president in history.”
