Donald Trump plans to implement transgender military ban after court ruling

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump's administration said that it intends to implement a ban on transgender people serving in the military after a federal court struck down the last injunction against the policy.

Friday's announcement comes a day after US District Judge George Russell III said he was striking down the last of four injunctions against the transgender service member ban, reports The Hill magazine.

Russell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who serves on the US District Court for the District of Maryland, cited in his ruling the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in January to stay two of the injunctions.

Obama declared in 2016 that transgender service members would be allowed to serve openly, but Trump announced a reversal to that policy in 2017, saying that transgender troops would be prohibited from serving "in any capacity".

Four lawsuits were filed against the policy, and lower courts in all four cases issued injunctions to the rule as the cases made their way through various courts.

Former Defence Secretary James Mattis laid out a policy in March 2018 that would allow transgender people to serve if they do so "in their biological sex".

Advocacy groups have repeatedly slammed the policy as discriminatory against transgender people who simply seek to serve their country.