Tag

#LGBTQ

3 incidents

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

Second-Term Transgender Military Ban: Executive Order 14183

The second-term ban was broader and more immediately disruptive than the first-term version. Executive Order 14183 directed the Secretary of Defense to update medical standards within 60 days and to issue implementing guidance within 30 days, mandating that transgender service members serve in their birth sex or face discharge. Service members who had been receiving hormone therapy and other gender-affirming medical care under a Biden-era policy would have that care immediately terminated. Legal challenges were filed promptly; district courts issued preliminary injunctions in March 2025, and in May 2025 the Supreme Court stayed one of them. Estimates of the number affected range from the 4,240 service members the Pentagon said in December 2024 had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria to advocacy estimates of about 15,000 transgender service members.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

Transgender Military Ban: Exclusion of Transgender Service Members via Tweet

Trump's tweet announcing the transgender military ban was not coordinated with military leadership. The Joint Chiefs issued an unusual public statement saying they would not change policy until they received 'formal guidance.' Multiple federal courts issued injunctions blocking the original ban. After losing court cases, the administration issued a modified 'Mattis plan' that imposed restrictions based on gender dysphoria treatment; it was implemented in 2019 and reversed by Biden in 2021. An estimated 14,700 transgender people were serving in the military.

Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

First-Term LGBTQ Rollbacks: Transgender Military Ban, Healthcare Protections, Bathroom Guidance

Trump's first executive actions on LGBTQ issues included rescinding a 2016 guidance protecting transgender students' bathroom access in public schools. In July 2017, Trump tweeted the military ban without notifying the Joint Chiefs; the tweet came after DOD had already been studying how to implement transgender service. The administration also reversed Obama-era healthcare anti-discrimination guidance, removed LGBTQ survey questions from the Census and government surveys, and reversed protections for LGBTQ workers in federal contracting. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in June 2020 that Title VII's prohibition on sex discrimination covers LGBTQ workers.