Transgender rights advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday (January 28) against U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order that targeted transgender service members. Navy Commander Emily Shilling is one of many transgender advocates in the military that has been preparing for months for possible restrictions. - REUTERS
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00:00U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that took aim at transgender
00:07troops.
00:08The order said that expressing a, quote, gender identity different from an individual's sex
00:12at birth did not meet military standards, and that a man identifying as a woman was,
00:17quote, not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.
00:23A day later, transgender rights advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the order, saying
00:28it violated the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment.
00:32Navy Commander Emily Schilling is a test pilot and combat veteran who leads SPARTA,
00:36an advocacy group for transgender troops.
00:39She says transgender service members began preparing for possible restrictions well in
00:43advance of Trump's election win.
00:46In preparation for a potential ban, SPARTA has started over a year ago training ambassadors.
00:53We brought them in and trained them how to talk to media, how to talk to generals and
00:58admirals, how to talk to congresspeople.
01:00That way, the stories that really matter about trans service members bringing strength to
01:07our service, bringing their individual courage to the fight can be told rather than how they
01:16might be a detriment.
01:18Trump's order banned the use of what it called, quote, invented pronouns in the military.
01:23However, it did not answer basic questions, including whether transgender soldiers currently
01:27serving would be allowed to stay, and if not, how they would be removed.
01:33Removing transgender troops from active service today will have a detrimental effect on our
01:39combat readiness.
01:41These individuals are deployed worldwide.
01:44They're right now already embedded in units.
01:47We have transgender troops in South Korea.
01:49We have them in Japan.
01:50We have them on aircraft carriers across the world.
01:53And when you remove those individuals for their identity, you remove their talents and
01:59their specialized skills, who's going to replace them?
02:03Department of Defense data shows the military has about 1.3 million active duty personnel.
02:09While transgender rights advocates say there are as many as 15,000 transgender service
02:13members, officials say the number is in the low thousands.
02:17Schilling said SPARTA membership had grown 10 percent since the election to 2,200 members,
02:23many of them senior enlisted members.