DOJ denies existence of transgender people in stunning court filing defending Trump's military ban

Source: The Advocate

BREAKING: DOJ denies existence of transgender people in stunning court filing defending Trump’s military ban

An attorney for the troops called it “part of the administration’s absurd attempt to purge highly skilled and dedicated service members simply because they are transgender.”

By Christopher Wiggins
August 01 2025 6:46 PM EST

In a stunning 44-page court filing Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice denied the gender identities of every transgender plaintiff challenging the Trump administration’s military ban and went further, misgendering each of them and casting doubt on their military service records.

Filed in Washington, D.C., federal district court, Talbott v. United States, the government’s response refers to the 32 plaintiffs only as “trans-identifying individuals.” It explicitly rejects their genders, stating, “Defendants deny that Plaintiff [Second Lieutenant Nicolas] Talbott is a man. Plaintiff Talbott is a female who identifies as a male.” In one section, the filing even questions whether some plaintiffs served “with distinction."

The challenged policy, reinstated by Trump’s Executive Order 14183 in January, categorically bars people with a diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria from serving in the U.S. military. The Department of Defense claims the exclusion is medically justified, arguing that gender dysphoria and its treatment might impair deployability. Evidence presented in court so far has demonstrated the opposite. The Justice Department insists the ban is “not based on transgender status per se,” but on a medical condition it says poses operational risks. According to court documents, transgender military members diagnosed with gender dysphoria were more deployable than their cisgender counterparts who were diagnosed with depression.

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Read more: https://www.advocate.com/news/doj-trans-people-dont-exist