NEW YORK _ A U.S. judge blocked the implementation of President Donald Trump's planned ban on transgender Americans serving in the armed forces.
The ban, promised by Trump in a series of tweets in July and due to be implemented in March 2018, is a form is discrimination based on gender and is already causing harm to affected personnel, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington said in a ruling Monday.
"There is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effect on the military at all," the judge wrote. "In fact, there is considerable evidence that it is the discharge and banning of such individuals that would have such effects."
