Trans platoon leader says a ‘huge burden’ has been lifted from him after judge blocks military ban

Trans people serving in the US armed forces have expressed relief after Donald Trump’s military ban was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

Major Erica Vandal and second lieutenant Nicolas Talbott praised the preliminary injunction on Trump’s executive order, calling it a “tremendous step forward”.

Within days of returning to the White House, Trump signed an executive order in which he claimed that transgender service members’ identities conflicted “with a soldier’s commitment to an honourable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle”.

Secretary of defence Pete Hegseth followed this up with a policy disqualifying people with gender dysphoria from the military.