In a ruling that simultaneously demonstrates that "the cruelty is the point" and "the American legal process is designed to work for the oppressor," the Supreme Court has granted the Trump administration an emergency stay of lower court orders blocking their unconstitutional and frankly eliminationist trans military ban; allowing the government to immediately begin discharging trans service members while lawsuits against the ban make their way through the courts.

https://www.advocate.com/news/scotus-allows-trans-military-ban

Supreme Court allows Trump administration to enforce transgender military ban

"LGBTQ+ advocates condemned the ruling. In a joint statement, Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, which represent plaintiffs in the case, called the decision “a devastating blow to transgender servicemembers who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense.” The groups argued the policy “has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice,” adding that the ban “violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and will ultimately be struck down.”

The administration had sought an emergency stay from the Supreme Court after the Ninth Circuit denied a similar request on April 18. In their response brief last week, attorneys for the plaintiffs said the government’s request was based on a “shocking proposition that transgender people do not exist,” and argued the policy “fails under any level of review.” The brief emphasized that the active-duty plaintiffs have over 115 years of combined military service and over 70 commendations."

Alright, let me state up front that I remain a committed anti-imperialist, peace advocate, and anarcho-syndicalist. I am not for war, militarism, or gunning down brown kids in far away lands on behalf of American oil companies and calling yourself a hero afterwards. If I had my way, there would be no military for trans service members to be banned from. But this ruling isn't about banning military service for everyone, it's about banning military service for trans people specifically because the government has legally declared that trans people don't exist while simultaneously implying that being trans is a type of mental illness that makes folks unsuitable for employment by the Department of Defense. In that regard then, this ruling is a part of the Trump regime's ongoing anti-trans pogrom and the larger fascist right's open attempts to drive trans people out of American public life. There are real people here, who even if I strongly disagree with their career choices are being harmed for nothing more than their gender identity; the fact that this is happening in the US military with the support of a Christian Nationalist-friendly SCOTUS doesn't make it any different than if McDonald's were firing trans people because "they're too unstable to operate a fry cooker." This similarity is of course intentional, because anti-trans fascists don't want to just remove trans people from the military, they want *everyone* to stop employing trans people entirely; that's how a pogrom works.

All of which of course leaves us with the harms themselves, and the lawless, vindictive nature of the Trump regime's war on trans existence. The fact is it remains highly unlikely that the Trump trans military ban is going to ultimately survive the numerous legal challenges against it; and the six fascist or fascist-friendly judges sitting on SCOTUS know that. Unless they're prepared to effectively invent new law, the ban will ultimately be struck down; which begs the question of why they would allow the Trump regime to start enacting the ban in the meantime while the suits against it make their way through the courts? Particularly given that discharge will irreparably harm the careers of trans service members who are likely to successfully sue the government for doing so once the ban is ultimately overturned. The answer of course is that doing so will allow the regime to harm, purge, and demonize some trans people in the interim, and since all these folks would be for simply locking up or eliminating trans people if the law would allow it, they're happy to err on the side of destroying trans lives and careers to feed raw meat to the Christian Nationalist base this movement relies on for support.

#Fascism #Trump #SCOTUS #TransRights #AntiTransPogrom #LGBTQ #ChristianNationalism #TransMilitaryBan #Transphobia #Eliminationism

#Trump #repeals #rule allowing #transgender #troops to #serve in #military.

The #executiveorder clears the way for a new #TransMilitaryBan.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/01/20/donald-trump-inauguration-day-news-updates-analysis/trump-repeals-transgender-troops-rule-00199577