Reportedly, the BBC's editorial complaints department said Webb "gave the impression of endorsing one viewpoint in a highly controversial area." (Alexander Pohl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Judge Reyes exploded, "We are dealing with unadulterated animus, an entire group of people who have served this country, calling them liars!" This is a policy of the President of the United States affecting thousands of people, she said. "To call an entire group of people liars who have no integrity, how is that anything other than showing animus," Judge Reyes asked.
Lynch argued this is not a transgender ban, it is a pause while the Defense Secretary determines how to align policy to the President’s Executive Order.
"If we had President Trump here and we asked him if this was a transgender ban what do you think he would say," Judge Reyes asked Lynch.
TRUMP ADMIN EXPECTED TO ENACT LAYOFF AT DEFENSE DEPARTMENT AMID DOGE ARRIVAL: REPORT
Advocates for transgender people march from the South Dakota governor's mansion to the Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota, on March 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File)
A tweet last Friday from the US Army barred transgender people from joining the military and halted surgeries for transgender service members. It followed an interview that Defense Secretary Hegseth gave to Breitbart in which he issued a not-so-veiled warning to senior military officers who refuse to "execute culture change."
"I am not here to declare anybody woke and they’re out," Hegseth told Breitbart. "I’m paying very close attention. There’s plenty of three- and four-star generals up for promotion or up for new positions, and there will already be a few folks that we’ve identified who will have different jobs in due time….here are the executive orders. Here are the directives on woke, on DEI, on CRT, on genderism, on trans service members, on COVID."
"The #USArmy will no longer allow transgender individuals to join the military and will stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender transition for service members. Stay tuned for more details," the Army posted on X.
SIX SERVICEMEMBERS CHALLENGE TRUMP'S TRANSGENDER MILITARY EXECUTIVE ORDER
Members of the US military community march down the road during the Capital Pride Festival in Washington, DC, on June 10, 2023. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Talbott wanted to join the military after 9/11. He pushed back when asked if the military lowered the standards so he could pass the physical demands of basic training.
"The slogan of officer candidate school is standards. No compromise. And they live by that 100%. There was no compromise for anybody, myself included," Talbott said. "I was treated the same as everybody else. I showed up just like everyone else. I performed just like everyone else. And there was no disruption whatsoever caused simply by my presence."
Talbott’s lawyer Shannon Minter, the legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, was in the courtroom today.
"It is so simple. It is so straightforward. We have one legal argument that it violates the equal protection clause to single out a group of people to exclude them from military service based on a characteristic that has absolutely nothing to do with their fitness or ability to do the job," Minter told Fox. "These trans service members have to meet exactly the same standards as others in terms of medical requirements, fitness to deploy, ability and job performance. There is no special deal for transgender troops. They serve on the exact same terms as everyone else."
FIRST OPENLY GAY DC FEDERAL JUDGE RAKES TRUMP ADMIN OVER MILITARY TRANS BAN
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) seal in the Pentagon Briefing Room in Arlington, Virginia., U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Absolutely not," Minter said, noting that in order for a trans person to join the military, the person must have already transitioned and been stable for at least 18 months prior to enlisting.
"The medical treatments that transgender people undergo have little to no effect whatsoever on deployability. Hormone therapy has no effect at all….Not all transgender people in the military have these surgeries. The ones who do, it is a very short recovery time, far shorter than many other much more common medical conditions that other service members undergo," such as knee surgeries or appendectomies. "So that is a really a red herring."
"If this ban goes into place, this will impact me personally by essentially ripping away my dream," Talbott said. "This is what I have always wanted to be when I grow up, so to speak, is a United States Army officer. And I think that it impacts me in my personal life, you know, not only as an officer in the Army, but as an American citizen. Knowing that we're going to lose so many thousands of talented people who are making our nation a safer place. That has a profound impact on me just as a United States citizen as well."
A recent Gallup poll shows 58% of Americans support transgender individuals in the military, down from 66% in 2021 and 71% in 2019.
Judge Reyes asked DOJ lawyer Jason Lynch at the start of the hearing that if he were under fire in a foxhole with someone who is transgender and has commendations for bravery, "you wouldn't care about their gender ideology, right?" Lynch answered that he doubted that gender identity would be on his mind in that situation.
Jennifer Griffin currently serves as a national security correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) and is based out of the Washington D.C. bureau. She joined the network in October 1999 as a Jerusalem-based correspondent.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/skeptical-judge-questions-executive-order-barring-transgender-service-members-from-joining-military