Trump violates a 32-year-old policy: This has never happened before

When President Donald Trump returned to office in January, Master Sergeant Logan Ireland was worried about what would happen to his career.

The 38-year-old transgender Air Force member had already overcome bureaucratic obstacles to serve during Trump’s first term. In 2017, Trump tweeted wanted to ban trans people from the military; The White House formalized its policy over the next year, carving out exceptions for people like Ireland who had already begun medical transition. Ireland had to get a doctor’s note diagnosing her with gender dysphoria in order to keep her job.

And now, that diagnosis is being used to purge him (and thousands of other transgender service members) from the military, despite his 15 years of service, including deployments to Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea.

“The Air Force made me who I am,” he told News themezone. “It helped me find my voice.”

While the Air Force has haphazardly implemented its separation process for transgender troops, Ireland is also one of the few service members who have been approved for, and then inexplicably denied, access to early retirement benefits.

Ireland is now one of 17 transgender members of the Air Force and Space Force suing to the United States government for what they say is an “illegal” revocation of their early retirement benefits and pensions.

The lawsuit, filed with the Court of Federal Claims last week, comes months after these service members, who had served between 15 and 18 years, were told they were eligible for the Temporary Early Retirement Authority, or TERA. The program allows veterans to access their pensions and Tricare, which provides civilian health care benefits for military personnel and veterans.

Trans service members and attorneys warn that the withdrawal of these benefits, so far without recourse, is an unprecedented development in Trump’s war on trans rights and diversity, equity and inclusion more generally, raising questions about how far the administration will go to reshape the military.

‘This has never happened before’

Days after returning to office, Trump signed a executive order in which he called transgender identity a “falsehood” and stated that a diagnosis of gender dysphoria was incompatible with military standards of “lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity and integrity.” In May, the Supreme Court gave the green light to Trump to enforce its ban on transgender service members while a lawsuit brought by trans plaintiffs continued in a lower court.

Active duty troops were given until July 7 to “self-identify” her diagnosis of gender dysphoria and begin the process of “voluntary” separation. If they did so, they would receive double their normal separation pay and would not have to repay any bonuses or tuition fees they received during their service.

But Ireland was among those who chose to seek involuntary separation, hoping to make the case before a board of his peers why he should be allowed to remain in the service.

But then, as the possibilities for transgender troops to challenge their discharge began to narrow, Ireland had to deal with the crushing reality that it would have to leave the community and workplace it called home.

Ireland figured that, at a minimum, his 15 years of service would allow him to earn early retirement benefits, which meant he could think about what he wanted his civilian life to be like.

In June, he applied for and was approved for TERA benefits, which were due to take effect in early December. Over the summer, he and his wife, who is also transgender and a veteran, talked about moving from their home in Hawai’i to the mainland states. Ireland began looking for jobs where he could continue supporting the military as a civilian. He planned a retirement ceremony for November, inviting every trans service member on base he could think of to join him and his family. His parents bought plane tickets to attend.

“Even though it was supposed to be my retirement ceremony, I wanted to [my wife and other trans service members] to be recognized because many would not have been allowed to retire like me,” Ireland said.

But in August, the Air Force terminated his benefits without explanation.

The Department of Defense and the White House did not respond to News themezone’s request for comment.

An Air Force spokesperson said The News that about a dozen service members had been “prematurely notified” that they would be able to retire with their benefits before that decision was reversed.

Courtesy of Logan Ireland

So far, only a small group of Air Force and Space Force members who have served at least 15 years have had their retirement benefits revoked.

“Everyone knows that it is very difficult to belong to a military family, to be constantly on the move and to give up opportunities for wealth, savings and investment that other people have, but in exchange for that, [they] “Make sure you have substantial retirement benefits,” said Shannon Minter, an attorney with the National Center for LGBTQ Rights who represents the plaintiffs. “So this is a huge loss, it’s a very substantial amount of money.”

Lawyers estimate the service members are owed between $1 million and $2 million each.

The government’s rescinding of these benefits is unprecedented, Minter said.

“This has never happened before and directly violates their own policy and the underlying statute that allows the military to grant early retirements,” he told News themezone. “Not only are they kicking people out of the military for no reason, but they seem to be doing everything they can to make it as humiliating, painful and punishing as possible.”

Under the policy Minter referenced, which dates back to a section of the National Defense Authorization Act authorized by Congress in 1993, once Air Force members have been ordered out, their benefits are essentially a done deal.

Only in rare and extraordinary circumstancessuch as “fraud, mathematical error, or substantial new evidence,” such as a person incarcerated, under investigation, or on medical hold, can an agency revoke removal orders?

But none of these circumstances apply to any of the service members in the case.

“They didn’t teach me how to retire,” Ireland said. “It should come as no surprise that I am going to do everything I can for myself and others to reap the benefits we gained through our service.”

An uncertain future

Ireland is still currently on the military payroll, but has been placed on administrative leave due to the executive order. In many ways, you are stuck in limbo: you can’t do your job or look for a new job. He does not know when he will be able to leave the military since his December separation date was rescinded.

“I can’t be left out. I chose to be involuntarily separated, but even then, I don’t know what that process will be like, and it’s very difficult to land on my two feet as a civilian,” Ireland said.

Emily Starbuck Gerson, communications director for SPARTA Pride, a nonprofit group that advocates for transgender service members, said her wife, Jamie Hash, a master sergeant in the Air Force, faces similar uncertainty.

Hash, who helped shape Air Force policies regarding trans service members in 2016, is just one year away from the 15-year benchmark for eligibility for TERA benefits. She is also on administrative leave and cannot yet accept new employment until she knows when she will receive her separation papers. Starbuck Gerson said he relies on his wife’s Tricare access to get health insurance, and the two are already investigating ways for Hash to qualify for disability benefits with the Veterans Association so they can receive some benefits.

There are about 4,200 service members who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria as of last December, a senior defense official said. Washington Post. In May, about 1,000 service members voluntarily separated from the military, according to a Press release of the Department of Defense.

“We don’t have an exact number of trans troops because the Department of Defense doesn’t even have an exact number. In court hearings, they admitted to not being sure exactly how many people are affected,” Starbuck Gerson said. “What we do know is that purging thousands of troops who have served for many years and received millions of dollars in training – including airmen, linguists and medical professionals – will waste billions of dollars and take decades to recover.”

“Not only are they kicking people out of the military for no reason, but they seem to be doing everything they can to make it as humiliating, painful and punishing as possible.”

– Shannon Minter, staff attorney at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights

Transgender people have been able to serve openly in the military since 2016, when former President Barack Obama up a long-standing ban on trans service members following its removal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 2011, which had banned openly gay and lesbian service members.

During Trump’s first term, the Supreme Court permitted its military trans ban went into effect, but created exceptions for service members who had already transitioned and did not require “substantial medical treatment” for their gender dysphoria.

But this time, the Trump administration has gone even further, attempting to ban access to anyone with a history or current diagnosis of gender dysphoria. So far, federal judges have determined in two separate lawsuits that the ban on transgender troops is unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court allowed the ban to take effect after Trump. asked the highest court to weigh in on the case known as Shilling v. United States while the litigation continues. A similar case, Talbott v. Trump will continue with hearings in January.

“It seems as if the government is doing everything it can to push these patriots into the streets with as few benefits and resources as possible,” Starbuck Gerson said. His wife, Hash, is also a plaintiff in the Talbott case.

Advocates warn that if the court allows the government to revoke plaintiffs’ retirement benefits, it could set a dangerous precedent for how the Trump administration could get away with denying benefits to other populations.

“This is the tip of the spear. They know that if they can get away with treating people who have served our country in this way, they can mistreat transgender people with impunity in other areas,” Minter said. He warns that this could give the administration “a green light to target much more vulnerable transgender people, such as incarcerated people, homeless trans people who are being isolated from shelters, and young people who are having their health care taken away.”

If the court rules against the plaintiffs, this could ab There are countless other questions about the future of retirement benefits for all troops, both cisgender and transgender.

Ireland said these past few months have made it difficult for him to envision what his future will look like, but he is not going to give up the fight for answers and equal treatment in uniform.

“Ever since my retirement was taken away from me, it makes me feel like my service has no meaning to the military, that I’m just another number, that my service can just be erased,” Ireland said. “But no policy, no matter how great, can erase our history.”