LEGAL/LGBTQ/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Civil-liberties groups on Monday [8-28-17] filed two lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender service members serving in the military, arguing that the prohibitions are unconstitutional.
The suits state the ban violates rights to due process of service members and those who want to join the military. One of the two lawsuits said the ban also violated free-speech protections.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland filed its suit in Baltimore on behalf of six currently serving transgender service members. Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN filed a separate suit Monday in Seattle on behalf of a currently serving transgender service member, two transgender people who wish to serve, including a male high-school student, and two advocacy groups, the Human Rights Campaign and the Gender Justice League.
Both lawsuits list President Trump and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis among the defendants. The service members listed in the ACLU suit informed the military that they were transgender after President Barack Obama last year lifted a longstanding ban with an ‘open service’ order…
Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuits.”
-Nancy A. Youssef, “Donald Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Challenged by Civil-Liberties Lawsuits,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 28, 07:35pm