“Consistent with the military mission and longstanding Department of Defense policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” the executive order reads.

While Trump did not immediately ban transgender service members from the armed forces, his executive order directs the Pentagon to revise defense policy based on readiness “to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force.”

“The pursuit of military excellence cannot be diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion,” the executive order states.

The order also requires the Defense Department to restrict medical coverage of certain transition-related care within 60 days, ban people assigned male at birth from using women’s “sleeping, changing or bathing facilities” and “end invented and identification-based pronoun usage.”

The National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, criticized the order for violating constitutional protections.

“The law is very clear that the government can’t base policies on disapproval of particular groups of people. That’s animus. And animus-based laws are presumed to be invalid and unconstitutional,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for NCLR.

Independent research institute the Palm Center found in 2018 that there were an estimated 14,000 transgender service members in the U.S. military.

Shortly after his inauguration last week, Trump signed another executive order, recognizing only two genders, male and female. The president also revoked an executive order signed by former President Joe Biden in 2021 that allowed transgender people to serve in the military.

“This ban betrays fundamental American values of equal opportunity and judging people on their merit,” Jennifer Levi, the senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, said in a statement.

“It slams the door on qualified patriots who meet every standard and want nothing more than to serve their country, simply to appease a political agenda,” Levi added. “That’s not just un-American, it makes our country weaker by pushing away talented service members who put their lives on the line every day for our nation.”

Army 2nd Lt. Nicholas Talbott is among the plaintiffs in Tuesday’s lawsuit. The 31-year-old transgender man was “named Honor Graduate at basic combat training by his drill sergeants for going above and beyond in training and stepping up to leadership roles,” according to the lawsuit.

“Every individual must meet the same objective and rigorous qualifications in order to serve,” Talbott said in a statement.

“It has been my dream and my goal to serve my country for as long as I can remember. My being transgender has no bearing on my dedication to the mission, my commitment to my unit or my ability to perform my duties in accordance with the high standards expected of me and every service member.”

While the White House has not responded to the lawsuit, the Pentagon said in a statement it plans to “fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the executive orders issued by the President, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency and in alignment with national security objectives.”