Target: Jennifer Levi, Senior Director at GLAD Law
Goal: Support successful fight against transgender military ban.
Pride month began with a significant legal win for a marginalized group often maligned and targeted by the Trump administration: transgender Americans. This ForceChange petition called attention to some of the many attacks launched against this community and called for an end to the mistreatment. Yet another appeals court has aided this cause by ruling against the ban on active-duty transgender military members.
In one of the first executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, the Pentagon effectively banned all present and future enlistment by soldiers who identify as transgender. According to the order, simply being transgender somehow “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” Similar excuses were used to prohibit gay and lesbian soldiers from serving in the military for years. The transgender ban directly affected the livelihoods of thousands of soldiers who had already been serving honorably.
Shortly after the ban was implemented, a U.S. district judge wrote in an appeals ruling striking down the ban: “the cruel irony is that thousands of transgender service members have sacrificed — some risking their lives — to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them.” The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the ban to revert to status quo shortly thereafter, but a new ruling offers new hope. In this ruling, an appeals court found that the ban “appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender.” The new ruling will uphold the rights of active-duty transgender troops to continue their service.
Sign the petition below to thank the legal advocates responsible for achieving this important victory.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Senior Director Levi,
“Today’s decision is a powerful vindication of the plaintiffs’ extraordinary courage and unwavering commitment to their country…this decisive ruling confirms that the Trump Administration has no legitimate basis to discharge transgender service members who have met every demanding standard and proven, time and again, their fitness and dedication to serve.” Your words in the wake of the federal appeals court’s ruling concerning transgender active-duty service echo the themes of many consequential movements in years past.
Transgender Americans have become the latest convenient targets for individuals who wish to twist the country and the planet into their own hateful and prejudicial worldview. Thank you for securing an important win for and a validation of the ever-expanding and ever-persevering human rights movement.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Somchai Kongkamsr
