COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — On Thursday, May 1, the Supreme Court will hear from the attorneys for the service members challenging the Trump administration's transgender military ban.
Last week, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow his executive order banning transgender people from the military to take effect immediately as the legal challenges to the ban proceed. The administration argued the delay was impacting military readiness.
Those challenging the ban argue it violates the Constitution's guarantee that citizens are treated equally under the law.
Shannon Minter is the Legal Director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and one of the lawyers for the some of the service members challenging the ban. Minter says they'll be filing a brief on May 1 asking the Supreme Court to allow the two cases to play out through the courts.
"We're going be arguing there is no reason to take any sort of emergency action here, there's no reason to bypass the ordinary judicial process," Minter said. "You've had two different federal courts look at the evidence here and conclude that the only thing that's going to be immediately harmful is allowing the ban to go into effect. It's going to cause irreparable harm to service members who dedicated their whole lives to being in the military."
CLAIRE'S STORY
"Our nation is is built on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," said Jenny Schell. "Why doesn't my daughter deserve that?"
Jenny Schell can barely hold back tears as she talks about the impact of the Trump administration's ban on transgender service members for her 22-year old daughter, Claire.
"She's a human being," said Jenny Schell. "She has the right to live her life. I just want her to have liberty, to be able to enjoy her life without fear, and to be able to pursue her dreams."
Claire is a college student in New Mexico studying physics and for more than a year, she dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot in the Marines. It started on her 21st birthday in January of 2024 when Jenny and her husband, Chris, gifted Claire a flight lesson at the Colorado Springs Airport.
"You could tell she was just on cloud nine being up in the air," said Chris Schell. "I think it was something where you could tell it sparked a unique light."
Four months later, Claire and her father went to an aviation expo where Marine recruiters had a flight simulator set up.
"I said, 'Look, before we even have a conversation here, Claire is trans, so we need to understand the culture, we need to understand the environment, we need to understand that this is a viable path for her," said Chris Schell. "Her recruiter was great about saying we're bringing through our first transgender male pilot right now."
As Claire began the process to enlist, she says she took the Marine's flight aptitude test known as the ASTB and exceeded the score to pass the test. She says every week, she did physical training to build up her strength and planned to go to Officer Candidates School this summer.
She spoke with us via Zoom from her college dorm room in New Mexico.
"The more I talked with my fellow recruits, the people I was working with every Friday morning, the more it felt like this could be something for me, I could be a part of something bigger," she said.
But, one week after President Trump took office, he issued an executive order titled "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness," banning people with gender dysphoria from joining the military.
The Department defines gender dysphoria as "... a marked incongruence between one's experienced or expressed gender and assigned gender of at least 6 months' duration, as manifested by conditions associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. "
The order says in part "...expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."
That day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke to reporters as he arrived at the Pentagon saying his job is to focus on lethality, readiness and warfighting.
"The lawful orders of the President of the United States will be executed inside this Defense Department swiftly and without excuse," Hegseth said.
Among the guidance from the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness is:
- All new recruits diagnosed with gender dysphoria as a child would be disqualified.
- Service members currently serving with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria would no longer be allowed to serve. However, in both cases, they could apply for a waiver on a case-by-case basis if there is compelling government interest in accessing a recruit or retaining a service.
Read frequently asked questions here.
I asked Claire about the President's claims in his order that her gender identity keeps her from satisfying the "rigorous standards necessary for military service."
Dianne Derby: There are plenty of people, including the Trump administration, of course, who would argue you being trans impacts that? So, I wonder what your reaction is to that.
Claire Schell: How? Explain it to me. I got the highest score on the simulator. I got the highest score on the test, on my first PT test, I scored second officer. You need first officer to pass those. Most people don't even get third officer on their first test. So how? What do you need from me? How is my identity, my gender impacting the physical and mental nature of what I need to be doing?
Dianne Derby: I've spoken with some combat veterans who say, if a transgender person is on hormone replacement therapy, which you are on, Claire, and we are in a combat situation where we are deployed for days without access to food, without access to medicine, that could impact your ability to fight in combat. If you didn't get your medicine for days, would that impact you?
Claire Schell: Not at all. Just because of issues with pharmacies and insurance, I've been off my meds for almost two weeks and it didn't affect me at all...It's a .1 milligram dose of estradiol. I could go a month. I could go two months without it with no issues.
Claire she says she does still plan to pursue a career as a pilot, just not in the way she and her parents hoped.
"Here's this person who could have contributed so much as a leader, as a person, as a bridge builder, as a fighter pilot, and they've lost that opportunity now," said Chris Schell.
"She was willing to give her life for her country. Now her country has said, 'No,'" said Jenny Schell. "I don't know that President Trump understands the effect that his language has on my daughter. People now feel like they have the right to say awful things to her and her community. It's not just her, it's the community of trans people. They're just humans."
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Trump administration's emergency petition by early next week. We will stay on top of the ruling and let you know what the Supreme Court decides.
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