New Jersey Governor Murphy joins the governors of California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington in opposing Trump’s transgender military ban

 

Governor Phil Murphy announced today he will exercise every option available to allow transgender servicemembers to continue serving in the New Jersey Army National Guard. New Jersey joins California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington as the sixth state to date to officially oppose the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender military service.

Attorneys at GLAD and NCLR, the organizations leading the legal fight to end the ban, issued the following statements:

“Governors have a responsibility to safeguard the strength and efficacy of their National Guard, and to ensure residents in their state are not subject to discrimination,” said Jennifer Levi, Transgender Rights Project Director at GLAD. “In opposing the Trump administration’s shameful policy, Governor Murphy along with the leaders of five other states to date are recognizing that excluding qualified transgender servicemembers weakens their state Guards and violates our nation’s bedrock principles of fairness and equal protection.”

“These courageous state leaders have seen this ban for what it is –baseless and cruel policy that serves no purpose other than to weaken our nation’s military and harm dedicated service members,” said Shannon Minter, Legal Director at NCLR.  “Governor Murphy and others have said loud and clear that they refuse to discriminate against qualified individuals who seek only to serve their state and their country.”

A Recent Quinnipiac poll found that 70% of Americans agree that transgender individuals who meet military standards should be able to serve openly.

NCLR and GLAD have been at the center of the legal challenge to the Trump administration’s transgender military ban since filing Doe v. Trump, on August 9, 2017, and securing the first of four preliminary injunctions that blocked the ban from taking effect for nearly two years. In both Doe and a second case, Stockman v. Trump, NCLR and GLAD continue to fight the discriminatory policy in the courts, pursuing a final ruling striking the ban.

For more information, go to NCLR and GLAD’s website outlining the history and status of the Trump-Pence transgender military ban https://notransmilitaryban.org/.

###

Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation. www.GLAD.org

 

The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) was the first national LGBTQ legal organization founded by women and brings a fierce, longstanding commitment to racial and economic justice and our community’s most vulnerable. Since 1977, NCLR has been at the forefront of advancing the civil and human rights of LGBTQ people and their families through impact litigation, public policy, and public education. Decades ago, NCLR launched the first LGBTQ Immigration Project, Transgender Rights Project, Youth Project, Elder Law Project, and began working to end conversion therapy through what is now the Born Perfect campaign. www.nclrights.org