Seventeen transgender Air Force members filed a federal lawsuit last week, accusing the U.S. government of unlawfully revoking their early retirement pensions and benefits.
According to the Associated Press, the suit challenges an Air Force policy confirmed earlier this year that denies early retirement to transgender service members with 15 to 18 years of service and instead separates them without benefits.
The case is the latest in a wave of legal challenges to Trump administration policies aimed at removing transgender personnel from the military. The Supreme Court in May allowed the administration’s broader transgender troop ban to remain in effect while litigation continues.
Advocacy group GLAD Law, a co-counsel in the case, estimates affected service members could lose up to $2 million in lifetime retirement income, along with health insurance.
Several plaintiffs say they had already received approval to retire when the policy was reversed. Master Sgt. Logan Ireland, who served 15 years including a deployment to Afghanistan, said the denial sends the message that “the military taught me to lead and fight, not retreat,” and that those values do not extend to protecting service members “when [they] need them most.”