A group of trans veterans are suing the Trump administration over retirement benefits they have been denied. 

On Monday 10 November, the complaint was filed by 17 service members in the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington. 

Trump began his second term in office by signing a number of executive orders, aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programmes across the government and in the military, and banning trans people from serving in the military.

In August, trans members of the Air Force spoke out after a leaked memo appeared to show that transgender personnel, with 15 to 18 years’ service, were being denied early retirement.

Advocacy group GLAD Law, which is representing the plaintiffs, claim that the Air Force had issued retirement orders in June for those being forced out by the administration’s ban. However, two months later they were informed that they would be separated without retirement benefits. 

As reported by the Washington Post, Michael Haley, a staff attorney at GLAD Law said: “The Air Force’s own regulations state that once retirement orders are issued, they can only be rescinded in certain limited circumstances, such as fraud or a mathematical error. None of those circumstances are present for these service members, and the Air Force has not provided any legal basis for rescinding the retirements.” 

The Independent quotes Shannon Minter, legal director with the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, who said that the Trump administration “continues to deepen its betrayal of veterans by ripping away the pensions and health care benefits of honorable Airmen who have deployed around the world.

“There has never been an administration that has shown such open hostility to the brave men and women who have served our country,” he said.

‘Cruel and senseless’

One of the plaintiffs, Logan Ireland, whose 15-year service included a deployment in Afghanistan, said: “Ripping away the retirements we have earned is a betrayal of the sacrifices made by service members and our families. 

“We should not be thrown into economic hardship or made to feel our years of service are regarded by our country as meaningless.”

GLAD Law has said each plaintiff could lose up to two million dollars in benefits and access to military health insurance. 

Haley claimed the administration’s order is part of its “cruel and senseless targeting of transgender troops and transgender people more broadly”. 

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