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.
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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.
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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 All were granted retirement dates effective later this year, but in August, those orders were rescinded after the Trump administration’s transgender military ban went into effect.
Related: Air Force veteran stripped of retirement under Trump’s transgender purge
The complaint cites a chain of executive and departmental directives that led to the reversal. In January, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14183, titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which instructed the Department of Defense to “take the steps necessary to exclude transgender people from the military.” The Pentagon then issued guidance in February implementing the order across all service branches.
In May, the Air Force’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Gwen DeFilippi, issued a memo stating that transgender Air and Space Force members with 15 to 18 years of service could apply for TERA as an “exception to policy.” The Air Force approved the plaintiffs’ retirements shortly afterward.
But in August, after DeFilippi was replaced by Brian L. Scarlett, the Air Force abruptly rescinded every one of those retirements. Scarlett issued a memo titled “Exception to Policy (ETP) for Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA) Decision,” disapproving all pending TERA requests for service members with fewer than 20 years of service. He stated that those members would instead be eligible for voluntary separation pay at “twice the amount of involuntary separation pay,” but not for retirement pay or benefits.
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The complaint argues that this reversal violated the Air Force’s own instruction, which explicitly limits when retirement orders may be canceled. The plaintiffs contend that their rescinded orders remain valid and that they are entitled to full retirement benefits under federal law, which mandates pay for members retired under the appropriate sections of military law.
Ireland, who said he has deployed multiple times, including to Afghanistan, told The Advocate on Monday that he hopes the lawsuit compels the military to honor the sacrifices of transgender service members. “I’ve done what my service and my country asked of me,” he said. “My gender should have no bearing on what retirement benefits I’m afforded. Full stop.”
In his interview, Ireland described the human toll of that decision. Since the Air Force rescinded his orders, he said, he’s been “in this sort of purgatory limbo.” Without a set retirement date, he cannot finalize employment or relocation plans. “We don’t know where we’re going to live. Employment is very hard to land because I don’t have a retirement date anymore,” he said
He added that after years of honorable service, he still believes in the institution that has now turned against him. “The military has made me who I am. It has made me a better person,” he told The Advocate. “All that I wish is for the military to see that and to honor that same sacrifice that I’ve given.”
The lawsuit seeks reinstatement of the original retirement orders, restoration of retirement status and associated benefits, and compensation for lost pay. It also asks the court to order corrections to the plaintiffs’ military records to reflect their rightful retirement status.
“If we’re disposable like this, everybody is,” Anguiano told The Advocate in August. “This isn’t just a fight for us. It’s a threat to every person who has served or is currently serving.”
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The case—Ireland et al. v. United States—comes amid ongoing litigation over the administration’s broader transgender military ban, including Talbott v. United States in Washington, D.C., and Shilling v. United States in Washington state, in which many of the same legal organizations represent plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the policy.
“I wish that I could meet the Secretary of Defense,” Ireland said. “I wish I could meet someone from the administration, so they could see me as I truly am, as a service member. Gender aside, I’m a service member and I’ve sacrificed for this uniform.”
