After a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary injunction to stop an executive order that seeks to ban transgender people from serving in the military, Nicolas Talbott got a message from a fellow transgender service member saying the ruling had saved that person’s family.
As the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the executive order, Talbott, who lives in Akron, has gotten a lot of messages thanking him for speaking up for the transgender community. He’s helped keep fellow members of the armed services motivated to serve, they’ve told him, and made them more willing to speak out themselves.
“It’s a little hard, I get emotional,” Talbott said Wednesday afternoon. “It really is about people’s lives.”
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The injunction, granted Tuesday by Judge Ana C. Reyes, is on hold until 10 a.m. Friday so the federal government can consider filing a motion for an emergency stay, the ruling said. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said the department has vigorously defended President Donald Trump’s executive actions, including this one, and would continue to do so.
“This is the latest example of an activist judge attempting to seize power at the expense of the American people who overwhelmingly voted to elect President Trump,” the statement said.
Ruling says ban unlikely to survive judicial review
For Talbott, the ruling means he can continue his role as a second lieutenant with an Army Reserve military police unit based in Pennsylvania, a job he said he’s been enjoying since his first official drill last month.
Reyes’ ruling, he said, allows him to “breathe that sigh of relief” and takes some weight off his shoulders.
“I think I’ll have a little less concern about the security of my job,” he said. “It’s such a huge step forward, a huge step in the right direction. I’m riding that wave of excitement.”
In her 79-page ruling, Reyes said the government had not provided a legitimate reason for banning all transgender troops. She said there was no evidence government leaders consulted with uniformed military leaders before the executive order was signed or analyzed the records of transgender military members who have served openly since 2021. The ban was “highly unlikely” to survive judicial review, she wrote.
“Indeed, the cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed — some risking their lives — to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them,” she wrote.
Reyes added that the premise of her ruling was simple: “In the self-evident truth that ‘all people are created equal,’ all means all. Nothing more. And certainly nothing less.”
Heated debate a positive outcome in a democracy
Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called the ruling “very significant.” While the injunction is in place, the Department of Defense cannot enforce a ban on transgender troops serving; he expects that would continue through a trial.
The decision “basically protects service members from harm while this case proceeds,” he said.
“It’s very momentous,” he said. “They can remain in the service, remain in their jobs.”
Minter said Talbott is a strong plaintiff who represents a class of people who joined the military after transitioning. He called him a “shining example of the success of that policy.”
“We’re so proud of Nic; so happy and relieved for him,” Minter said.
In his testimony, according to the ruling, Talbott said: “In each military setting I have worked in so far — basic training, Officer Candidate School, and my Reserve unit — I have been open about my transgender status and have felt welcomed by my peers and supervisors.”
Reyes said in her ruling that the ban was “soaked in animus and dripping with pretext. Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact.”
She said she knew the opinion would “lead to heated public debate and appeals,” stating both are positive outcomes in “a healthy democracy.”
Talbott, for his part, said he and others just want to keep being able to put on a uniform and serve the country.
“This has been just an incredible experience,” he said. “What an honor it is to be one of the named people representing the transgender community.”
