Recently in politics, President Donald Trump officially signed a memo overturning Obama’s 2016 order allowing transgender individuals to serve openly in the military. “The memo that was signed today adopts a policy directing [the Department of Defense] and [Department of Homeland Security] to return to the longstanding policy and practice on military service by transgender individuals prior to June 2016,” said the official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity (Time.com). This ban also bars any gender-reassignment surgeries of any known transgender soldiers already enlisted, unless it was already in effect.

Defense secretary, Jim Mattis, has until February 21st of next year to officially decide whether previously enlisted transgender troops should be removed or not. “The Secretary of Defense, after consulting with the Secretary of Homeland Security, may advise [Trump] at any time, in writing, that a change to this policy is warranted,” the memo also states. This decision has struck controversy in the media, especially with the ACLU, who announced over twitter, that they will be taking Trump to court.

ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, is a foundation for protecting civil liberties. On Friday, August 25th, ACLU claimed to see him in court over the trans ban and stirred the pot with over 96,000 retweets and 295,000 likes putting them in the top trending on twitter. They officially filed the law suit on Monday, August 28th, claiming it’s an unconstitutional act of cruelty, stating,“…the ban violates the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and substantive due process by singling out transgender individuals for unequal and discriminatory treatment.”

Many support ACLU and the abolishment of the ban, including many celebrities such as Zendaya Coleman, George Takei, and many others. MTV invited transgender soldiers (Sterling Crutcher, Logan Ireland, Jennifer Peace, Akira Wyatt, Laila Ireland, and Brynn Tannehill) to walk the VMA’s red carpet to show their support and speak out against the ban.

No matter the stance, our troops are admired for their bravery in protecting this country.