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Lawyers from two prominent LGBTQ advocacy organizations have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of five transgender service members with almost 60 years of combined military service.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)filed the suit,Doe v. Trump,in response to President Donald Trumps recent tweets calling for a full ban on transgender peopleserving in the United States military. The ACLU filed a separate lawsuit on Wednesday.

Trumps directive to excludetransgenderpeople from military service has created a tidal wave of harms that have already been felt throughout our armed services, Shannon Minter, atransgenderlegal expert and NCLR Legal Director, said in a statement sent to HuffPost. Transgenderservice members have been blindsided by this shift and are scrambling to deal with what it means for their futures and their families. The Presidents mistreatment of these dedicated troops will serve only to weaken and demoralize our armed forces.

According to a press release, the five plaintiffs have served in the Air Force, the Coast Guard, and the Army.

The biggest questions to be raised from Trumps discriminatory directive stem from the thousands of openly transgender people already serving in the United States military many of them overseas. A recent study suggests that there are currently between1,320 and 6,630transgender individuals actively serving in the U.S. military.

The suit refers prominently to Defense Departments decision in 2016 to allow transgender people to serve openly.

If implemented, the suit claims Trumps ban would violate a number of constitutional protections.

The directive to reinstate a ban on open service by transgender people violates both the Equal Protection component of the Fifth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the suit states.

The presidents ban, which has not gone into effect due to a lack of clear guidelines, has been almost universally criticized.

Fifty-six retired U.S. generals and admirals slammed the directive in a letter released last week, which argued the ban would cause significant disruptions, deprive the military of mission-critical talent, and compromise the integrity of transgender troops.

A new report released on Wednesday by The Palm Center found thatfully implementing President Trumps ban would cost $960 million in pursuit of saving $8.4 million per year.

The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday also stated its intention to file a lawsuit against the directive at some time in the near future. The ACLU did send a letter to the White House [on Tuesday] formally informing them that we intend to sue and telling them to preserve all documents related to the their planned ban on trans military members in preparation for our forthcoming lawsuit, Ryan Karerat, communications strategist for the ACLU, wrote in an email sent to HuffPost.

Read the Doe v. Trumplawsuit in its entirety below.

Go here to see the original:
Donald Trump's Transgender Military Ban Just Got Slapped With A Lawsuit - HuffPost