--- description: Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Susan Collins introduced a proposal to stop Trump's plan to ban transgender people from military service title: Democrat and Republican Senators Move to Stop Trump's Transgender Military Ban image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c8a08f7580c8a2c/6988dd4c86f68e49c26e65dd/gillibrand-collins-transgender-amendment.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Senate](/tag/senate/) ## Senate Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Democrat and Republican Senators Move to Stop Trump's Transgender Military Ban  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 11, 2017 11:14 PM CUT  New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand speaks while Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) listens during a news conference on changing the military justice system, on Dec. 2, 2014 in Washington, D.C. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand speaks while Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) listens during a news conference on changing the military justice system, on Dec. 2, 2014 in Washington, D.C.Mark Wilson/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 11, 2017 11:14 PM CUT New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, introduced a bipartisan amendment to protect transgender service members from President Trump’s plan to [ban them from the military](http://time.com/4916871/donald-trump-transgender-military-ban/ "undefined"). The amendment introduced Monday would prohibit the Department of Defense from dismissing current transgender service members “solely on the basis of the member’s gender identity,” Senators said in a statment. “Any individual who wants to join our military and meets the standards should be allowed to serve, period. Gender identity should have nothing to do with it,” Gillibrand, a Democrat, said in a statement. “If individuals are willing to put on the uniform of our country, be deployed in war zones, and risk their lives for our freedoms, then we should be expressing our gratitude to them, not trying to exclude them from military service,” said Collins, a Republican. td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;} Last month, Trump [formally ordered](http://time.com/4916871/donald-trump-transgender-military-ban/ "undefined") a reversal of a 2016 order that had allowed transgender people to serve openly in the military, but it is not clear how that will affect the [estimated 1,320 to 6,630 transgender service members](http://time.com/4874380/donald-trump-military-transgender-how-many/ "undefined") currently in the active duty military. [Secretary of Defense James Mattis](http://time.com/4921270/james-mattis-transgender-ban-donald-trump/ "undefined") has said transgender service members will be allowed to stay in the military temporarily while he figures out how to implement Trump’s ban. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4936786/transgender-military-ban-amendment-susan-collins-kirsten-gillibrand/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4936786/transgender-military-ban-amendment-susan-collins-kirsten-gillibrand/"},"headline":"Democrat and Republican Senators Move to Stop Trump's Transgender Military Ban","datePublished":"2017-09-11T23:14:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:22:26.224Z","description":"\"Gender identity should have nothing to do with it\"","url":"https://time.com/4936786/transgender-military-ban-amendment-susan-collins-kirsten-gillibrand/","keywords":["Senate","Congress","White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c8a08f7580c8a2c/6988dd4c86f68e49c26e65dd/gillibrand-collins-transgender-amendment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c8a08f7580c8a2c/6988dd4c86f68e49c26e65dd/gillibrand-collins-transgender-amendment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senators Hold Briefing To Propose An Independent Military Justice System","caption":"Senators Hold Briefing To Propose An Independent Military Justice System","creditText":"Mark Wilson/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/senate/","name":"Senate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4936786/transgender-military-ban-amendment-susan-collins-kirsten-gillibrand/","name":"Democrat and Republican Senators Move to Stop Trump's Transgender Military Ban"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hundreds in New York Protest Trump's Ban on Transgender Troops","description":"Demonstrators have flocked to a military recruiting station in New York City to protest President Donald Trump's abrupt ban on transgender troops in the military.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/OjsfNv4w/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-07-27T01:48:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OjsfNv4w.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4936786/transgender-military-ban-amendment-susan-collins-kirsten-gillibrand/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4936786/transgender-military-ban-amendment-susan-collins-kirsten-gillibrand/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```