Transgender military members react to 'jarring' Pentagon memo
Transgender service members are fighting back against the Pentagon's recent announcement requiring the separation of transgender people from the military.
Lt. Cmdr. Geirid Morgan has served in the Navy for 14 years as part of the medical service corps. She told ABC News that as an openly transgender woman, seeing the ban in "black and white" was "jarring."
"I just want everyone to know that [transgender military members] have been serving honorably and effectively for a decade now," Morgan said. "We serve in almost every job role you can imagine in the military. We have doctors, lawyers, fighter pilots, special operations personnel.
"This is a calling, this is a this is a life of sacrifice, a life of service. This isn't just a job, this isn't just a career," Morgan added. "We're all over the place. We're doing the jobs. We're doing it effectively, and that's it."
Morgan is part of a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal against President Donald Trump following his executive order banning transgender service members from the military.
On Wednesday night, the Pentagon's new transgender policy, as approved by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was disclosed in a memo filed as an exhibit file by the Defense Department in another court case challenging Trump's order.
The memo requires the Pentagon to form a procedure to identify transgender troops by March 26 and separate them from the military by June 25, unless they receive an exemption. This would include service members receiving some form of treatment or hormones for that diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as well as those who have gone through a gender-affirming surgery.
"I'm going to put my uniform on every day, go to work, do my job with the best of my abilities for as long as I'm able to," Morgan added.
Sasha Buchert, an attorney for Lambda Legal who served in the military while openly transgender, told ABC News that the recent Pentagon memorandum does not come as a surprise.
"This is exactly what we anticipated, and it's exactly how we framed up our complaint and our motion for preliminary injunction," Buchert said on Thursday. "The executive order, frankly, is dripping with animus, and we expected nothing less than exactly what we got today. So there is absolutely no surprises, and it's absolutely shameful."
When asked what else could be expected of the Trump administration regarding transgender service members, Buchert said there is "no bottom" to how extreme the administration may take things.
"Of all of the national security priorities that we have and all of the domestic priorities we have as a country, they've chosen transgender people as a top priority of things to work on," Buchert said. "I think it's shameful and disgraceful and has caused great harm to both transgender military service members and their families, but also to the military at large."
"This is just plain wrong," Buchert added. "This is the opposite of a meritocracy."
The lawsuit, Shilling v. Trump, claims the ban on transgender service members is unconstitutional and violates fairness principles. Plaintiffs include transgender service members from a range of military branches affected by the Trump administration.
Buchert added that removing thousands of transgender service members will negatively affect the military financially given the U.S. military investment in each troop's training and development. A 2020 Palm Center study found the removal of these troops would cost nearly $1 billion.
There are currently 4,240 active-duty, National Guard and Reserve service members who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a defense official previously told ABC News.
