Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth took to social media to mock District Judge Ana Reyes after she opposed Trump’s anti-trans executive orders and ruled against his ban of trans people from the military. Ana Reyes is the first out LGBTQ+ person to serve as a district judge in Washington and has been advocating for trans people and opposing the Trump administration’s bigotry. In February, Judge Reyes went in on Trump’s executive orders that claim there are “only two sexes” and criticized the banning of trans people from the military. She described the order as “frankly ridiculous” and “biologically inaccurate.” The executive order claims that trans people’s identities, “conflict with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle” and that “expressing a false ‘gender identity'” makes them unfit for military service. This was also the reasoning Hegseth used to pause gender-affirming care for trans military service members. Judge Reyes called out the blatant discriminatory and bigoted language, saying, “Calling an entire group of people lying, dishonest people with no integrity … How is that anything other than showing animus?” This month, Judge Reyes has ruled against the ban and has placed a temporary block that will protect trans service members from being fired while the courts decide. “The military ban is dripping with pretext. Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact,” said Judge Reyes. Hegseth decided to whine on social media regarding the decision mockingly called Judge Reyes a “top military planner” and “Commander Reyes” saying she should go instruct and train military members. Judge Reyes was never insinuating that she was a military expert or anything similar. She called out Trump and the Secretary of Defense for being transphobic, hateful, and incorrect in their ‘scientific’ claims about sex and gender. This is how our administration responds to valid criticism. Photo courtesy of Facebook
