The US government has appealed to remove 29 active-duty transgender service members before their case against the Pentagon’s ban goes to trial next year.

The move comes a week after Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth told a crowd: ‘At the Department of War, we do training, not tr***ies.’

A ban on transgender service members went ahead last year, but now, courts have found that the ban violates soldiers’ rights to due process and equal protection, ABC News reported.

The US Government has continued to deny that the ban against the transgender community violates their constitutional rights, and has now issued a petition to the Supreme Court to allow the ban to go ahead.

Solicitor General John Sauer, petitioning on behalf of the US government, wrote: ‘The authority of the U.S. military to determine who may serve in the Nation’s armed forces is a matter of exceptional importance.’

Despite the petition, for now, the 29 service members, which consist of reservists, active-duty members and the National Guard, are allowed to remain in their positions.

‘There is no reason to waste millions of taxpayer dollars to kick out thousands of highly trained, skilled and decorated troops based on nothing but hostility and this administration’s political whims,’ Jennifer Levi, the attorney representing the service members, told ABC.

Trans people were prohibited from serving as early as at least 1960, before being allowed briefly to wear US Army uniforms between 2016 and 2019 under certain conditions.

During his first term, Trump made a ban on transgender service people one of his top priorities in policy.

In August 2017, he issued a memo banning the use of government funds for sex-reassignment surgery for active personnel.

The Obama administration had changed longstanding policy in June 2016, declaring that troops could serve openly as transgender individuals.

As of 2024, an estimated 15,000 trans people were serving in the US Army.

Another potential ban has raised eyebrows for many, given Americans aren’t exactly lining up to join the army. Just 1% of the country serves.

Before issuing his second ban on transgender service people in 2025, it was found that regardless of how many years they have served, trans troops would be given a special medical discharge that declares them unfit if the ban goes ahead.

One source told the newspaper: ‘These people will be forced out at a time when the military can’t recruit enough people.

‘Only the Marine Corps is hitting its numbers for recruitment and some people who will be affected are in very senior positions.’

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