Judge Again Excoriates Trump Lawyers over Transgender Military Ban

Judge Reyes noted that Pete Hegseth, at the time he issued the policy ‘had been the Secretary of Defense for about 30 days and had no prior military history other than, I think, he had an early deployment before his television career?’ (AFP via Getty Images)

The Judge who is considering Trump's transgender troops ban, tells lawyers that evidence supplied by them suggests that transgender troops are as well or better suited to serve than cisgender counterparts. She then sent Trump's lawyers back for 30 minutes to partake in a trans 101 and read the DOD policy.

District Judge Ana Reyes will rule on the troop ban next week.

District Judge Ana Reyes was incredulous when told by a Trump lawyer that the policy does not include all trans people.

The judge then cited a Defense Department post on X from February 27: “Transgender troops are disqualified from service without an exemption.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also shared the post from his official account according to The Independent.

“Do you think you can say one thing in public…and say another thing in court? This wasn’t some off-the-cuff remark at a cocktail party?” Reyes asked.

The judge asked if he was using “loose language” but Manion argued Hegseth was using “shorthand.”

“I’m not going to speculate that he was just being sloppy when he said that. I’m going to take him at his word,” the judge said.

Judge Reyes asked the Attorneys if they had read any of the pertinent data supplied by the DOD. When they confessed to be totally ignorant she advised them that "The study showed a group of trans people were deployed longer than a comparison group of non-transgender service members who were diagnosed with depression," the judge said. If anything that shows that transgender troops are as well suited, if not better than other troops on long deployments.

Opinion:

The over-the-top hyperbole found in every Trump Executive order indicates he was handed such orders by the Heritage Foundation to implement, and added vitriolic language afterward, which may be his undoing.

I've served two tours during the Cold War. Nearly everyone I knew dealt with depression that isolation, C-RATS, living in caves, and relentless extreme conditions can bring. In rare cases, a fellow soldier would fall victim to that and the Army would have no alternative but to discharge them. A discharge other than honorable is a long drawn out tedious procedure that serves to exacerbate depression and to dehumanize the soldier, making it clear to witnesses that this was not a situation to be envied.

Closeted Trans people like myself persevered. It was our duty and we recognized the USSR as a threat to democracy.

The troops that Trump so hates also serve honorably, unlike him. When Trump ran out of educational deferments during the Vietnam War, the athletic young man's father paid to have him diagnosed with a bone spur. This may very well be why he holds such animus toward the transgender community.