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Transgender people deserve to stay in the military, and we hope that a federal lawsuit filed last week affords them that protection in the face of President Donald Trumps intention to boot them out.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of five active service members identified as Jane Does. It alleges equal protection and due process rights violations under the Constitutions Fifth Amendment.

Its necessary because there are thousands of transgender service members who notified their command of the fact that they are transgender when the military announced in June of 2016 that they could openly serve, says Jennifer Levi, the plaintiffs lead attorney and co-director of the Center for Transgender and Sexuality Studies at Western New England University in Springfield.

These plaintiffs have been in the military from between three years and 20 years. They have bravely and courageously served our country and dont deserve the slap in the face that Donald Trump is giving them.

In three tweets on July 26, Trump announced, After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.

Military officials were surprised by Trumps intention to reverse the policy enacted by the Obama administration last year when it ended the ban on transgender troops. Under that policy, those already serving could come out, and openly transgender people could join the military next year.

Many transgender people have hormone therapy or surgery as they transition to the gender with which they identify. However, studies dispute Trumps contention that those serving in the military would incur tremendous medical costs.

A RAND Corp. study commissioned by the Department of Defense last year concluded that the additional cost of gender transition-related health care treatment was relatively low between $2.4 million and $8.4 million a year. Thats far less than the aapproximately $6 billion spent annually on medical expenses for active-duty personnel, according to the report.

The Palm Center, an independent research institute in San Francisco, released a study this month concluding that if 12,800 transgender service members were kicked out of the military, it would cost $960 million to train their replacements.

Estimates vary about the number of transgender people currently serving. Using the RAND studys lowestestimate of 1,320 transgender troops, the cost of replacing them would be $99 million.

Trumps argument that transgender people disrupt the military has been used in the past to argue unsuccessfully against allowing blacks to serve, women in combat and openly gay troops. Experts point out there is no evidence to support Trumps contention that transgender people disrupt military readiness, since they have been allowed to serve openly for the past year without incident.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war who now chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, says any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving. There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train and deploy to leave the military, regardless of their gender identity.

The Pentagon is still waiting for a formal directive from the president before it takes any action to change the policy on transgender troops.

Nevertheless, says Levi, the lawsuit is necessary because Trumps tweets already have resulted in immediate, concrete injury to Plaintiffs by unsettling and destabilizing plaintiffs reasonable expectation of continued service.

Its important for the country as a whole because what the president is seeking to do weakens the military. This is a time when everyone who is capable of serving and wants to serve needs to be able to do so.

There are plenty of military issues that need the presidents attention, most notably de-escalating tensions with North Korea. Getting rid of transgender people who are proudly serving their country is not among them.Beyond that, it insults a group of Americans who have pledged themselves to serve this nation, and who deserve respect in return.

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Editorial: Transgender service members should remain in military - GazetteNET