President Trump issues entry ban on transgender soldiers
President Trump’s ban on transgender military service will go into effect amid ongoing court challenges.
A group of transgender service members who served in the Air Force for up to 18 years are suing the military, claiming they were stripped of their retirement benefits after the Trump administration banned all transgender soldiers from the military ranks.
In a lawsuit filed Nov. 10, more than a dozen transgender service members are asking a court to refund the pensions the Air Force promised them when they were forced to leave the military, only to have them revoked in subsequent months.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year ordering the Pentagon to expel all transgender soldiers.
According to Department of Defense guidelines, transgender soldiers who voluntarily leave the service will receive “voluntary separation benefits.” Those who fail to do so could be identified through a “medical record review” and expelled.
Air Force strips transgender service members’ pensions
Amid the purge, the Air Force told transgender soldiers in May that those discharged after 15 to 18 years of service could apply for early retirement benefits. All plaintiffs received formal resignation orders the following month.
Then, on August 4, the Air Force changed its mind.
Brian Scarlett, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Personnel and Reserve Affairs, said in a memo that “after careful consideration, I do not approve” the retirement benefits requests of all these Airmen.
“The military and air force view my service as meaningless,” said Logan Ireland, 37, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Ireland, who worked for the company for 15 years, told USA TODAY that when his retirement benefits were suddenly revoked, he started rebuilding his finances and applying for other jobs. His command team has been cooperative, but officials have not responded to his requests to meet with military leaders, he said.
“I’d like to know why,” he said. “Why is my retirement money being taken away?”
The Air Force said the group who lost benefits had the opportunity to apply for voluntary separation benefits. The Air Force said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
Shannon Minter, legal director of the National LGBTQ Rights Center and an attorney representing the group, said some plaintiffs could lose millions of dollars. They and their families will also lose military health care, Minter added.
Minter said the military would only cancel retirement benefits in extremely rare circumstances. He pointed to Air Force policy that cites “fraud, obvious error, mathematical error, error of law, or material new evidence” as the only acceptable grounds for pension revocation.
“Usually when the military, in this case the Air Force, issues a retirement order, it’s sacred,” Minter said. “It is unprecedented for an order like this to be revoked, much less for it to be revoked without any explanation or justification.”
The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration, allowing the ban on transgender military service to go into effect in May.
