US issues guidance on transgender military ban, seeks to lift court order

By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense released new guidance on Friday on how it will enforce President Donald Trump's ban on transgender people in the military, and asked a federal judge to lift her recent order blocking the ban.

The memorandum from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense said the department will review service members' medical records, and within 45 days give them self-assessment questionnaires, to determine whether they have a current diagnosis, history, or symptoms of gender dysphoria, which would make them ineligible for continued service. 

Gender dysphoria is the distress experienced when a person’s gender identity does not align with his or her birth sex.

The memo states that the exclusion of people with symptoms of gender dysphoria applies only to those with "marked incongruence and clinically significant distress or impairment for at least six months," citing the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

It also states that it cannot take effect because of Wednesday's order by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington blocking the Trump administration's ban in response to a lawsuit by transgender current and would-be service members.

Justice Department lawyers in a motion on Friday asked Reyes to lift her order in light of the new guidance. They argued that Reyes' order incorrectly found that the policy discriminated against people based on their transgender identity, and that the guidance makes clear that it is based on a medical diagnosis.

Reyes already rejected a similar argument when she blocked the policy.

She had put her order on hold until Friday morning to give the government a chance to appeal. In Friday's motion, the government said it planned to appeal and asked Reyes to keep her order on hold while the appeal is pending if she did not lift it.

Reyes held a hearing on the motion on Friday morning. She said her original order was now in effect, but has not yet ruled on the government's motion to lift it or put it on hold, according to Jennifer Levi, a senior director at the pro-LGBTQ legal group GLAD Law, who represents the plaintiffs.

Levi said the plaintiffs strongly oppose the government's motion.

"It is appalling that this administration would rather see the military weakened and destabilized than simply allow committed, courageous transgender service members to keep upholding their responsibilities and performing their duties," she wrote in an email.

The White House and Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Bill Berkrot and Rod Nickel)