A federal judge forcefully rebuked the Trump administration’s defense of its sweeping ban on transgender military service members, exposing the policy as a baseless attack on trans troops and calling the government’s arguments “frankly ridiculous” and “demeaning.”
During a heated hearing in Talbott v. Trump in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes toxto task over the administration’s claim that allowing transgender service members to use their preferred pronouns undermines military readiness.
“Can we agree that the greatest fighting force... is not going to be impacted in any way by less than one percent of the soldiers using a different pronoun than others might want to call them?” Reyes asked.
Lynch refused to concede the point, prompting an exasperated Reyes to dismantle the argument. “Would you agree with me that if our military is negatively impacted in any kind of way that matters… we all have a lot bigger problems than pronoun use? We have a military that is incompetent. Any common-sense, rational human being knows that it doesn’t.”
Reyes didn’t stop there. According to The Independent, she mocked the administration’s insistence that pronoun usage could be a national security issue. “If you want to get me an officer of the U.S. military who is willing to get on the stand and say that because of pronoun usage, the U.S. military is less prepared… I will be the first to buy you a box of cigars.”
A policy of pure prejudice
Activists participate in a rally at the Reflecting Pool of the U.S. Capitol April 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. Democratic lawmakers joined activists to rally against the transgender military service ban. Alex Wong/Getty Images
The case stems from President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order, which directed the Department of Defense to halt gender-affirming care for trans service members and block new enlistments of anyone with a history of gender dysphoria. Trump’s handpicked Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, has aggressively enforced the order, making it one of the most extreme anti-LGBTQ+ military policies in modern history.
Trump’s executive order doesn’t just ban gender-affirming care—it openly disrespects and erases trans identities. The order claims that “the adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” It even goes as far as to state:
“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
Reyes was having none of it. The Independent reports that she repeatedly pressed Lynch on whether that language was designed to degrade transgender people.
“The government is not willing to take a position [that] to categorically call a group of people selfish is demeaning?” she asked. “The answer is ‘yes it is,’ ‘no it isn’t,’ or ‘I can’t say.’”
Reyes also pointed out that the order portrays transgender service members—many of whom have risked their lives in combat—as inherently dishonest, dishonorable, and lacking integrity.
“[The order] calls an entire category of people dishonest, dishonorable, undisciplined, immodest, who lack integrity—people who have taken an oath to defend this country, people who have been under fire, people who have received medals for taking fire for this country,” Reyes said, according to a transcript by Politico’s Kyle Cheney on BlueSky. She then put the government’s case in stark terms: “I want to know from the government whether that language expresses 'animus.' Does that express animus?”
Lynch attempted to sidestep the question, saying, “Not in any constitutional—” before Reyes cut him off. “In a commonsense way,” she interjected. “This is a policy from the President of the United States affecting thousands of people... to call an entire group of people, lying dishonest people who are undisciplined, immodest, and have no integrity. How is that anything other than showing animus?”
When Lynch claimed he did not have an answer, Reyes shot back: “You do have an answer, you just don't want to give it.”
According to Cheney, Reyes then declared that she was changing her courtroom policy to bar anyone who graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law from appearing before her, saying, “They’re all liars and lack integrity and are undisciplined and can’t possibly meet the high rigors of being a lawyer for the government.” She then ordered Lynch to sit down on that basis.
After he complied, she called him back up and asked whether that situation demonstrated animus.
‘If I’m intersex, where am I allowed to go?’
The Independent notes that Reyes also took issue with Trump’s broader attack on trans and nonbinary identities, particularly his executive order declaring that the U.S. government only recognizes two genders.
“This executive order is premised on an assertion that’s not biologically correct,” Reyes said. “There are anywhere near 30 intersex examples. Anyone who doesn’t have XX or XY chromosomes is not just male or female, they’re intersex.”
She posed a question: “If I’m intersex, where am I allowed to go?”
The government had no answer.
Hegseth’s role in Trump’s anti-trans military purge
U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth holds his closing press conference at the end of defense ministers' meetings at NATO headquarters on February 13, 2025 in Brussels, Belgium.Omar Havana/Getty Images
As The Advocate previously reported, Hegseth has gone even further than Trump’s order, implementing new restrictions that systematically strip transgender service members of their rights.
A February 7 memo from Hegseth mandates that all military branches immediately halt gender-affirming health care, freeze promotions for transgender personnel, and deny enlistment to anyone with a history of gender dysphoria.
Hegseth, a longtime opponent of LGBTQ+ inclusion, echoed Trump’s rhetoric, dehumanizing transgender troops by calling their identities “a falsehood” and claiming that gender diversity is “incompatible with active duty.” His views are not new—his 2024 book, The War on Warriors, explicitly argued that transgender people should never be allowed to serve.
The fight isn’t over
Reyes is considering whether to block Trump’s order while litigation continues. Meanwhile, the administration faces multiple legal challenges over its broader effort to strip away trans rights—including its attempt to eliminate federal recognition of transgender people and its attacks on gender-affirming care nationwide.