Trans soldiers to remain in military per 9th District Court

A ban on transgender military members is still on pause after a Ninth Circuit panel denied the Trump administration's motion to stay a district judge's order that the ban would not be enforced.

The court determined that keeping the pause on the ban in place would not do irreparable harm, the one-page order said.

"The emergency motion (Docket Entry No. 9) to stay the district court’s March 27, 2025 preliminary injunction is denied," the order stated, then adding that members of the Trump administration "have not demonstrated that they will suffer irreparable harm absent a stay."

As a result, the pause on the ban on transgender military members will continue. The judges who were on the panel included Judges A. Wallace Tashima, John B. Owens, and Roopali Desai, who were all appointed by Democratic presidents.

This follows a decision from Judge Ana C. Reyes, a Biden appointee, of the US District Court, who wrote earlier this year in a court order to pause the ban on transgender military members: "Is saying that transgender people or people with gender dysphoria, [that] their inherent identity is inconsistent with a commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, is that demeaning to them?"

The decision also added, "An 'Action Memo' claimed the Policy 'was informed through consideration of' three studies and cost data... Who considered the information, however, is anyone's guess; Defendants do not know. Maybe no one, because one study is eight years old and the other two support the Plaintiffs' position."

In January, the Trump administration moved to ban all transgender individuals from the military as well as remove all DEI programs from the armed forces, citing a need for "unit cohesion," in a draft order, and added that cohesion "requires high levels of integrity and stability among service members."