TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) This week a federal judge in Washington blocked the Trump administration Monday from enforcing parts of its transgender military ban.
DETAILS: Judge blocks enforcement of Trump's transgender military ban.
Abby Jensen is the vice president and general counsel for the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance. SAGA is not a plaintiff in the case, Jansen said, but the alliance joined with other national organizations in filing an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs' position that the attempted ban on trans military service was unconstitutional.
"I was an opportunity to demonstrate to the court that this attempted ban had a very widespread impact across the country," Jensen said. "And that it did clearly present a risk of great harm."
Even though the ban isn't set to go into effect until next year, Jensen says military service members have already noticed in a difference. She says people are not being given promotions because their supervisors think that they aren't going to be around for very long, and so why invest more money more training.
"The ban on transgender military service is the latest move from the Trump administration to withdraw civil rights from transgender people," Jansen said. "It started with withdrawing the guidance that trans students needed to be treated in schools according to their gender identity."
The government had argued that the lawsuit was premature and moved to dismiss the case because the policy is still subject to review.
