Federal judge blocks Donald Trump's ban on transgender people serving in US military

A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s order which seeks to ban transgender people from enlisting or serving in the military.

Trump's action, titled 'Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness', was introduced just one week after he returned to the Oval Office on January 20.

The policy suggests that the 'pursuit of military excellence' is being 'diluted' in order to 'accommodate political agendas or other ideologies', and claims that 'adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle'.

Trump issued his order just days after returning to the White House (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

It adds: "A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member."

According to a memo filed by the Defense Department, and cited by NBC News, Trump's policy banned transgender people from enlisting in the military, and required that any current transgender service members be removed from their jobs.

However, US District Judge Ana Reyes, of Washington, D.C., blocked the order on Tuesday (March 18), ruling that it violates an equal protection clause because it discriminates based on transgender status and sex.

Reyes said the ban is 'soaked in animus', adding: “Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact.

“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.”

Trump's administration has time to appeal the judge's decision (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Reyes argued that the government could have crafted a policy which balances 'the Nation’s need for a prepared military and Americans’ right to equal protection', and noted they 'still can'.

"The Military Ban, however, is not that policy," she continued. "The Court therefore must act to uphold the equal protection rights that the military defends every day.”

Despite issuing her response on Tuesday, Reyes delayed the effect of the preliminary injunction until Friday (March 21), to allow Trump's administration time to appeal her decision.

The judge's move to block the order comes after two national LGBTQ legal organizations, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the the National Center for Lesbian Rights, responded to Trump's order with a lawsuit in January.

Filed on behalf of six active-duty trans service members and two trans people seeking to enlist, the lawsuit argued that the ban 'reflects animosity toward transgender people because of their transgender status'.