'Cannot possibly be legal': Trump buried for denying retirement benefits to certain troops

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on in the Oval Office on the day he signs an executive order, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 23, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

Following the Trump administration’s ban on transgender service members, the U.S. Air Force is now denying early retirement benefits to transgender troops with 15 to 18 years of service.

“This is just betrayal of a direct commitment made to these service members,” Shannon Minter of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights told Reuters, calling it “devastating.”

According to Minter, the denial of early retirement benefits could cost transgender service members hundreds of thousands of dollars over their lifetimes.

Reuters calls the benefits denial “the latest escalation by President Donald Trump’s administration as it seeks to bar transgender individuals from joining the U.S. military and remove all who are currently serving. The Pentagon says transgender individuals are medically unfit, something civil rights activists say is untrue and constitutes illegal discrimination.”

Critics blasted the Trump administration.

“Absolutely appalling bigotry,” wrote Jessica Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. “This is how the administration treats people who have defended our country in the military for nearly two decades? I hope the courts block this, as it cannot possibly be legal.”

“Disgusting way to treat Americans who have stepped up to serve,” wrote Fred Wellman, a graduate of West Point and an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours.

“A draft dodger who never served a day in his life is denying benefits to those who served honorably for 18 years,” commented the nonpartisan Veterans for Responsible Leadership. “Just like when black soldiers were denied benefits after WWII. The cruelty towards marginalized communities that serve is as American as apple pie. We must do better.”

“It was never about the bathrooms or the sports,” remarked U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI). “It was always just to demonize and punish. These Americans have devoted their careers to keeping us safe, and they are getting screwed by their government.”

“The Trump administration has gone from removing a targeted group from government service to stealing what they earned,” commented Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy. “It’s textbook fascism and a further step on the path of state repression, dispossession and violence that humanity has seen the horrific consequences of before.”

“The Trump admin is telling anyone who will listen that its treatment of transgender service members is motivated by animus,” wrote civil right attorney Matthew Segal. “The question is whether federal courts, including SCOTUS, will listen.”