跨性別軍人被告知必須在今天之前決定如何被軍隊清除：「自願」還是非自願

“There is nothing voluntary about forced separation,” says GLAD Law’s Jennifer Levi

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has instructed transgender servicemembers to self-identify for separation by today, June 6—July 7 for reservists—or face “involuntary separation.” GLAD Law 和 NCLR report that transgender servicemembers are struggling with an impossible choice. Many say that “voluntary” separation is misleading. Yet they fear the unknown consequences of the involuntary separation process for themselves and their families. Former military leaders have also spoken out, calling the rushed nature of this ban “alarming” and noting that “military policy changes typically involve months of careful planning and timelines that account for the complexity of the military personnel system.”

GLAD Law 跨性別者和酷兒權利高級總監 珍妮佛·萊維 和 NCLR法律總監 香農·明特, the lead attorneys in 塔爾博特訴美國案 （以前 塔爾博特訴川普案), are transgender themselves and each have more than three decades of experience litigating landmark LGBTQ+ cases. Together, Levi and Minter also led the 2017 legal fight against the transgender military ban in 多伊訴川普案 和 斯托克曼訴川普案, which secured a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of the ban. Levi and Minter responded to today’s deadline:

“There’s nothing voluntary about forced separation,” said GLAD Law 跨性別者和酷兒權利資深總監 Jennifer Levi. “Honorable and committed transgender servicemembers are being coerced into choreographing their own dismissal under a presidential edict that maligns their character with falsehoods, characterizations the government itself admitted in court are untrue. These are decorated veterans who served for decades and forcing them out simply for being transgender is a shameful betrayal of American values.”

“The military has invested millions of dollars in training thousands of transgender servicemembers, such as 塔爾博特 plaintiff Major Erica Vandal, who was born into a military family on a base overseas, graduated from West Point, served with distinction for 14 years, deployed to Afghanistan, and has been awarded a Bronze Star,” said NCLR法律總監Shannon Minter. “Major Vandal and others are now being forced out through a humiliating process typically reserved for misconduct that will leave a stain on their records. This mistreatment of servicemembers who have put their lives on the line for our country is needlessly cruel and a shocking betrayal of our commitment to all those who serve.”

塔爾博特訴美國案, and a second legal challenge to the ban, Shilling v. USA, are continuing through the courts. 塔爾博特訴美國案 is awaiting the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decision on the government’s motion for emergency stay. The recent Supreme Court order in Shilling does not apply to 塔爾博特.   

塔爾博特訴美國案 （以前 塔爾博特訴川普案), the first legal challenge filed against President Trump’s transgender military ban executive order, is on behalf of 32 plaintiffs and brought by LGBTQ+ legal groups GLAD Law 和 NCLR with pro bono legal counsel from Wardenski P.C., Kropf Moseley PLCC, and Zalkind, Duncan + Bernstein.