The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit against US President Donald Trump on Tuesday after he signed an executive order to ban transgender people serving in the US Armed Forces.

The executive order, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” states: “Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”

HRC vice president Sarah Warbelow said that the ban puts national security at risk and undermines the years of service of transgender military members. Sasha Buchert, Lambda Legal Counsel and Nonbinary and Transgender Rights Project Director, communicated the same outlook and went on to say: “As we promised then, so do we now: we will sue.”

In 2017, during his first presidency, Trump had announced through X (formerly Twitter) that he would ban transgender Americans from serving in the military. HRC, represented by Lambda Legal and the Modern Military Association, filed a lawsuit against the president in the interest of transgender military personnel. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of the ban, allowing the restriction to take effect. In 2021, then-president Joe Biden repealed the ban. Trump’s 2025 ban rescinds Biden’s order, which allowed transgender military to receive gender-affirming healthcare and for transgender people to enlist into the military.

Trump has signed multiple orders targeting transgender rights in his first week in office, upholding previous promises to do so.