Washington ¨C By the time Nicolas Talbott, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army reserve, checked on the incoming texts buzzing on his smart watch, he found dozens of messages waiting for him. Talbott, a transgender man who took his oath of enlistment in March, instantly knew what the messages were about: President Donald Trump was about to sign his much-anticipated executive order placing restrictions on transgender members of the U.S. armed forces.
¡°Well, it happened,¡± Talbott, 31, said in an interview. ¡°Here we go.¡± And transgender service members in the military were ready. Within 15 hours of that executive order, Talbott joined five other transgender service members in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday by GLAD Law, a LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group, and the National Center For Lesbian Rights (NCLR). The lawsuit alleges that the new restrictions are violating constitutional guarantees of equal protection.
The long-term aim is not just to block Trump¡¯s executive order, but to enshrine permanent protections for transgender troops, Talbott said.
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