Protesters in Times Square after Trump announced a ban on transgender troops.
Protesters in Times Square after Trump announced a ban on transgender troops. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A federal judge in DC has blocked the Trump administration's ban on transgender people in the military.

Responding to Trump's August memo, in which he said he intended to reverse an Obama-era policy allowing transgender troop members to openly serve in the military, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote Monday that plaintiffs "established that they will be injured by these directives, due both to the inherent inequality they impose, and the risk of discharge and denial of accession that they engender."

The ruling comes after the administration attempted to have lawsuits targeting the trans military ban thrown out, arguing that the suits alleging damage are premature since the policy has yet to go into effect.

While the Judge's ruling is clearly a victory for the plaintiffs, David Ward, an attorney with Legal Voice, an organization that advocates for marginalized communities, says that the fight isn't over yet. "This is really a preliminary injunction," Ward says. "The judge hasn't reached a final decision on this case. She found that the record demonstrated a strong likelihood of succeeding." But while Judge Kollar-Kotelly instructed the administration to "revert to the status quo," she also ruled that Trump's directive to ban the military from paying for gender reassignment surgery stands.

The next step, according to the Judge, is for both parties to "file a Joint Status Report indicating how they propose to proceed in this matter by no later than November 10, 2017."

Sydney Brownstone contributed reporting.