A federal judge in New Jersey granted a temporary restraining order Monday blocking the U.S. military from separating two transgender airmen under President Donald Trump’s reinstated transgender military ban, offering immediate protection as the broader challenge to the policy plays out in court.
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The order came in Ireland v. Hegseth, filed on behalf of Master Sgt. Logan Ireland and Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bear Bade, who were recently removed from their posts and placed on involuntary administrative absence under the Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness executive order, EO 14183. Both have served with distinction in the Air Force for years.
“These Airmen have risked everything to protect American freedoms — they deserve better than becoming the targets of a calculated, political purge,” said Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD Law, which is representing the plaintiffs alongside the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the law firms Stapleton Segal Cochran, and Langer Grogan & Diver.
The court’s order halts the Air Force from continuing administrative separation proceedings against the two while litigation continues. It follows a separate ruling last week in Talbott v. Trump, in which a federal judge inWashington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction blocking the ban’s enforcement nationwide. D.C. U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes called it discriminatory, unsupported by evidence, and “soaked in animus.”
Despite that ruling, Ireland and Bade were still facing imminent expulsion, prompting a separate filing in New Jersey when the judge in the Talbottcase denied an amendment to include their names before the injunction hearing.
“These are two guys who needed immediate relief,” Shannon Minter, legal director at NCLR, told The Advocate. “We initially were trying to add them to the D.C. case, but by the time we were seeking to add them, it was too late to include them before the preliminary injunction hearing, so we couldn’t wait.”
In granting the temporary order, U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn wrote that Ireland and Bade demonstrated both a likelihood of success in challenging the ban and the risk of irreparable harm — including loss of career, damage to their reputations, and violation of constitutional rights.
The court rejected arguments by government attorneys that the plaintiffs could seek relief through internal military channels, citing their removal from deployment and looming involuntary separation proceedings set to begin Wednesday.
“The loss of military service under the stigma of a policy that targets gender identity is not merely a loss of employment; it is a profound disruption of personal dignity, medical continuity, and public service,” O’Hearn wrote.
Pentagon officials told Reyes in D.C. that separations would not begin until Friday.
Bade, a six-year Air Force veteran inspired by his grandfather’s World War II service, had been deployed in Kuwait as part of the base’s security forces. He was pulled from duty and forced home.
“For six years, I’ve strived to embody what Americans expect from their military: expertise, character, and leadership,” Bade said. “Now, I’ve been prevented from serving the troops I mentor and the nation I’ve committed my life to protect — all while living by the Airman’s Creed that I will never falter, and I will not fail.”
Ireland, a decorated 14-year veteran stationed in Hawaii, had been attending a training mission in New Jersey when he was ordered to leave and placed on administrative absence.
“My team in the Indo-Pacific wants their leader back — the one who wears the same uniform and swore the same oath as they did,” Ireland said.
Monday’s ruling comes just days after a tense hearing in D.C., where Reyes grilled Justice Department attorneys over the administration’s last-minute effort to undo the nationwide block on the policy in Talbott.
“There’s nothing in the record right now that tells me how many complaints there have been with respect to unit cohesion or military readiness with respect to gender dysphoria,” Reyes told DOJ lawyer Jean Lin, who was unable to identify who authored the policy or whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had even reviewed it.
Reyes accused the administration of “gaslighting” the court and called its claims “frankly ridiculous,” warning that any transgender service member negatively affected before the stay on the injunction is lifted could seek a TRO — which is precisely what Ireland and Bade have now obtained.
As both the Talbott and Ireland cases proceed, advocates stress that the stakes extend beyond a few individual careers. “Thousands of transgender service members like me fill critical roles requiring years of specialized training,” Ireland said. “Removing us creates dangerous operational gaps across every theater.”
The New Jersey case was narrowly focused on preventing immediate harm to the two plaintiffs, Minter said. “We’re just seeking narrow relief for those two, just to prevent them from being put into separation proceedings while this is all getting sorted out in the D.C. and soon Washington cases,” he said. “If the D.C. Circuit allows the injunction to go into effect, then their case is fine. They don’t need to take any further action right now. If it does not, then they will need to seek a PI [preliminary injunction] from that judge.”
The restraining order remains in effect for 14 days unless extended.
