Trump’s transgender military ban just got shut down

In what is being hailed as a victory for the transgender community, a federal judge on Monday blocked part of President Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military. 

The president made his ban, which first came to light in three surprise tweets, official in August. His directive also prevented those serving from receiving gender-confirmation surgery paid for by their military benefits, unless doing so would harm individuals already transitioning.  

While U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the military should return to the Obama-era policy of allowing transgender people to serve, she did not overturn Trump’s order to prevent health benefits from covering gender-confirmation surgery. Trump had pointed to the health benefits cost of trans service members as a reason for the ban, but that was slammed hard by opponents as the military spends five times more on Viagra than gender-confirmation surgery.   Read more…

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