On Monday, a federal judge deemed that transgender recruits will be eligible to join the United States military, effective January 1.

This is significant news as it denies President Trump’s request to ban transgender troops from the United States military, which caused a considerable amount of backlash when he first announced his request.

A number of transgender service members have filed suits against President Trump after he announced the potential ban back in June, and on Monday, United States District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stopped the ban from taking place. Why? Because it violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.

While the Trump administration argued that January 1 was far too soon, thus making it problematic, as hundreds of personnel would have to be trained in order to process transgender applications, Kollar-Kotelly stated that this was not true as preparations for accepting transgender recruits had already commenced while Barack Obama was president.

The Pentagon made the official announcement, stating that it will commence preparations for allowing transgender people to enter the United States military and fight for their country, following court orders.

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