Transgender Air Force members sue Trump administration over revoked retirementshttps://www.advocate.com/news/transgender-air-force-trump-lawsuit 🔗Christopher Wiggins (10 Nov 2025)
Seventeen longtime transgender members of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that the Department of the Air Force unlawfully revoked their approved retirement orders in violation of federal law.
Filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., the 19-page complaint, brought by attorneys from GLAD Law, the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, pro-bono counsel from Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC, and the Law Office of Jeremy Spiegel, argues that the administration's actions stripped the plaintiffs of retirement benefits they had already earned after years of honorable service. Each of the plaintiffs has between 15 and 18 years of active-duty experience.
According to the complaint, the Air Force issued all 17 retirement orders in June 2025 "by order of the Secretary of the Air Force." Those orders were based on the Temporary Early Retirement Authority, known as TERA, which allows members with at least 15 years of service to retire early under certain conditions. The lawsuit states that the orders were valid and binding, and that the Air Force's own rules permit revocation only in narrow circumstances—such as fraud, mathematical error, or newly discovered evidence—none of which applied in this case.
The suit names as plaintiffs service members from both the Air Force and Space Force, including Master Sgt. Logan Ireland, Lt. Col. Ashley Davis, and Technical Sgt. Alyxandra Anguiano. All were granted retirement dates effective later this year, but in August, those orders were rescinded after the Trump administration's transgender military ban went into effect.
