When three service members sued the Trump administration in March over its transgender military ban, they hoped to continue to serve their country while their cases moved forward in federal court.
However, after the Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration can enforce the ban amid the pending lawsuits, Cmdr. Emilly Shilling, Maj. Erica Vandal and 2nd Lt. Nicholas Talbott told ABC News they feel that the rug has been pulled from under them.
Decorated Navy pilot Shilling described the ruling as “heartbreaking.”
Talbott, a platoon leader in the U.S. Army Reserve from Ohio, sued the Trump administration in 2017 over the president’s first transgender military ban.
“It’s so enraging that we have to keep going through this,” he said.
In March, federal judges granted preliminary injunctions in both Talbott vs. Trump and Shilling vs. Trump, preventing the Department of Defense from initiating separation proceedings against any transgender service member while the lawsuits are pending.
In granting an injunction in Talbott, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said that the ban continues an unfortunate history of the military excluding marginalized people from the “privilege of serving,” and in granting an injunction in Shilling, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle said he is unable to condone a “unsupported, dramatic and facially unfair exclusionary policy.”
Vandal, another plaintiff in the Talbott case who has served in the Army for 14 years, told ABC News that the Supreme Court’s May 6 decision was “a blow.”
With their cases pending in court, Shilling, Vandal and Talbott are now facing what they say is a gut-wrenching decision: voluntarily separate from the military or get kicked out.
‘Irreparable harm’
According to a memo issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week following the Supreme Court ruling, approximately 1,000 Service members who have self-identified as being diagnosed with gender dysphoria will begin the voluntary separation process.
Transgender service members have until June 6 to self-identify and begin the voluntary separation process, while transgender service members serving in the reserve forces have until July 7 to voluntarily separate, the memo said.
A new memo issued by the office of the Pentagon’s Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness on Thursday laid out some guidance related to those who don’t self-identify.
According to the memo, after June 6 military commanders will be told to identify people in their units who have a diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria. That will initiate a referral to an annual health check-up that begins what could be a lengthy process for each person that could lead to their removal from the military.
Shilling is the president of Sparta Pride, an organization advocating for 2,400 transgender people in the military and those who hope to join. She said that although the legal cases are “very much alive,” enforcing the ban in the meantime is causing “irreparable harm” to people’s careers.”
A ruling is still pending on the Talbott injunction in a D.C. appeals court, but the 6-3 Supreme Court decision lifting the Shilling injunction impacts all plaintiffs and transgender service members.
The Supreme Court did not explain its decision, but said that the order would expire if the justices take up the case on the merits and issue a ruling striking it down. Shilling, an officer who is eligible for retirement at 20 years of service in September, said that she is seeking legal counsel and is still “contemplating” her decision.
The Pentagon estimates more than 4,200 active-duty, National Guard and Reserve service members have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which is the military’s metric for tracking the number of transgender troops. Advocacy groups have put the actual number of trans service members much higher, at around 15,000.
There are 2.1 million active-duty, National Guard and Reserve service members.
Vandal, who is married with two children and based on Fort Drum in upstate New York, said that the “uncertainty” during this time has been a “burden” for her family.
“I’m the sole breadwinner,” she said, adding that the “the Army touches on every aspect” of her family’s life — from housing and healthcare, to their social structures.
‘Who I authentically am’
The Trump administration’s ban on transgender service members was announced in a Jan. 27 executive order, where President Donald Trump directed the Defense Department to revise the policy allowing transgender troops to openly serve.
“Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” the order said.
The order further argued that receiving gender-affirming medical care is one of the conditions that is physically and mentally “incompatible with active duty.”
Hegseth, who celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision and made controversial remarks about transgender troops last week, echoed this sentiment in a Feb. 7 memo, saying that “efforts to split our troops along lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable.”
Vandal and Shilling said that the administration’s words are antithetical to their coming out journeys.
“If anything, I feel like I’m more honest with presenting who I authentically am, as opposed to hiding this entire aspect of me, and I think that ultimately, it’s made me a better leader,” Vandal said.
Vandal has served since 2011 and Shilling since 2005. During the bulk of their tenures, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), a U.S. military policy in place from 1993 to 2011 allowed LGBTQ+ individuals to serve in the military as long as they didn’t disclose their sexual orientation.
The policy was repealed in 2011 but transgender service members were still banned from openly serving in the military until 2016, when then-President Barack Obama allowed them to serve openly for the first time.
The brief chapter of open service under Obama came to a close when Trump took office in 2017 and issued his first ban on transgender military members, which was reversed by Biden in 2021 and then brought back by Trump in 2025.
“[Those policies] kept me from truly embracing who I was and coming out to the world at large,” Vandal said.
Shilling told ABC News that fear of losing her job and her family kept her from coming out for years. But in 2019, under Trump’s first ban, she realized that she could no longer put on a “facade.”
“You get to this point where you’re just kind of on this burning bridge, and it’s either you cross it or there’s just kind of nothing left,” she said.
Shilling said that while coming out “cost me everything,” it eventually allowed her to become “a better leader” in the military and start a “wonderful” new chapter with her family.
‘Not the end of the war’
Amid the shifting policies, Talbott said that it took nine years for him to be able to enlist in the reserves. In 2017, he took on the Trump administration for the first time by becoming a named plaintiff in Stockman vs. Trump, a federal lawsuit challenging the first Trump ban. He was 23 at the time and trying to openly enlist.
“One door would close and I’d have to find another door that was unlocked and see if it was a path that I could pursue,” he said.
Talbot, who had dreamed of joining the military since he was a child, said that challenging the Trump administration in 2017 was a “heavy decision,” but he was encouraged to speak out by his late grandmother Rhoda Dineen.
While Stockman vs. Trump was still pending in federal court, Biden issued an executive order in 2021 revoking the Trump ban, making it possible for transgender service members to openly serve and paving the way for Talbott to enlist.
When Trump issued his second ban in January, Talbott said that suing was an “easy” decision.
As he faces his second legal challenge and another chapter in limbo, Talbot said that he is holding on to “hope.”
“This is just a battle. This is not the end of the war,” he said.
Even though Talbott’s grandmother died in 2020, he says her encouragement continues to inspire him.
“I like to think she’d be proud of me,” he told ABC News. “I’m certain she would be incredibly supportive of what I’m doing.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Devin Dwyer and Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.
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