
Trans military colonel issues defiant message after being booted from post as Donald Trump ban takes effect
A transgender military official has spoken out after being placed on administrative leave as part of the Trump administration's ban on trans troops.
Colonel Bree Fram, who came out as transgender in 2016 when the initial ban on trans troops was lifted, was an astronautical engineer in the U.S. Space Force and was the Pentagon 's division chief for requirements integration.
She posted to Instagram on Friday saying 'I have been officially placed on administrative leave, effective tomorrow, pending separation' after the Supreme Court ruled the ban could go ahead.
Fram - whose profile picture on the social media app is an LGBT rainbow version of the Space Force logo - defiantly spoke of sobbing as she pinned medals on three of 'my folks' in her last official act in service.
She wrote: 'The last salute broke my heart in two and the tears flowed freely even as I have so much to be thankful for and so many amazing memories.'
Fram detailed the day she came out in 2016, telling a story of how her colleagues responded to the announcement by shaking her hand and, one by one, saying: 'It's an honor to serve with you.'
She also spoke about a similar experience last week, when she announced at a joint staff meeting that she was leaving and that she no longer met 'the current standard for military excellence and readiness'.
She said: 'A room full of senior leaders, admirals and generals, walked over to me and the scene from 2016 repeated. They offered those same words, now tinged with the sadness of past tense: "It's been an honor to serve with you".'
She added that she walked away with tears in her eyes because Fram felt that it had been her honor all along.
She wrote: 'It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve this nation and defend the freedoms and opportunities we have as Americans. My wildest dreams came true wearing this uniform.'
In the past six months, Fram had been posting photos of her fellow transgender troops on Instagram listing their accomplishment with the tagline: 'Happens to Be Trans.'
Fram told Stars And Stripes that her work recently had been focused on 'defining the future capabilities that we're going to need to win wars far into the future'.
She added that her Instagram post was an attempt to speak on behalf of her fellow transgender soldiers.
She said: 'It is almost a duty and an obligation to speak on their behalf because it is my privilege to do so and to hopefully represent transgender service members well that do not have the privilege that comes along with the rank and the experience that I do.
'If I don't speak for them and they are unable to speak for themselves, who will speak for them?'
In early May, the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump 's ban on troops with gender dysphoria can stand.
The Supreme Court's ruling lifts a lower court's decision to pause Trump's policy, which the administration called 'dramatic and facially unfair '.
The order allows the Department Of Defense to continue removing trans service members from the military and denying enlistment while lawsuits continue in the lower courts..
On January 20, President Trump signed an executive order ordering Pete Hegseth to enact a ban on 'individuals with gender dysphoria' serving in the U.S. military.
District Judge Benjamin Settle in Washington state ruled that the ban violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection and barred the government from enforcing Trump's policy.
The Trump administration appealed to the U.S. Court Of Appeals for the 9th Circuit but it was rejected, prompting them to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Trump's lawyers argued that the ruling was 'contrary to military readiness and the Nation's interests'.
The liberal justices - Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson - would have decided against Trump, they indicated in the filing, but the Supreme Court ruling was not signed.
The ruling was an emergency appeal prompting an unusually swift ruling from the Supreme Court justices, although they can rule on the merits of the case at a later date.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt celebrated the news in a statement.
She wrote: 'Another MASSIVE victory in the Supreme Court! President Trump and Secretary Pete Hegseth are restoring a military that is focused on readiness and lethality - not DEI or woke gender ideology.'
The ban enacted by the Department Of Defense on February 26 detailed that 'the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service'.
The level challenge to the order was filed by Commander Emily Shilling, together with six other current transgender service members and one transgender person who wants to join the military.
Schilling appeared at the LGBT Community Center dinner on April 10 to be honored for the legal fight against the president and his administration.
Schilling said: 'I swore an oath to support and defend the constitution. That oath requires obedience to lawful orders. But when an order undermines the very principles I swore to uphold, I have the responsibility to challenge it.'
Shortly after he was inaugurated in 2021, Joe Biden signed an executive order overturning Trump's initial ban on service of transgender individuals in the military. After Trump was inaugurated he ordered the ban to be reinstated.
Trump and Hegseth view the extra care required for transgender service members to be a distraction to military readiness.
In February, Hegseth ordered a pause on gender-transitioning medical procedures for active duty service members.
His memo said: 'Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Guardian
37 minutes ago
- The Guardian
RFK Jr announces new panel of vaccine advisers after firing entire previous team
Robert Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, named new members to serve on a key panel of vaccine advisers on Wednesday after abruptly firing all 17 sitting members of the independent panel of experts, according to a post on X. The eight new members of the advisory committee for immunization practices are: Joseph R Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael A Ross. 'All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,' Kennedy said in a post on X. The panel is part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kennedy said the new members are committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has alleged that the prior panel members, many of whom were appointed by former President Joe Biden, had conflicts of interest, without providing evidence of specific members' conflicts, and said the move was necessary 'to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science'. Numerous physician groups have expressed concern and suspicion over Kennedy's unprecedented removal of all the panel's prior members. The American Medical Association, the nation's largest physician group, has called for a Senate investigation into their dismissal, and sent Kennedy a letter calling for an immediate reversal of the changes.


The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
Fort Bragg soldiers behind Trump during speech were screened for loyalty and appearance, report says: ‘No fat soldiers'
Soldiers appearing near President Donald Trump at a Tuesday speech at Fort Bragg were reportedly screened for their partisan politics and physical appearance. Ahead of Trump's visit to the North Carolina base, service members were asked to alert superiors if they had political differences with Trump so they could be removed, reports, citing internal 82nd Airborne Division communications. "If soldiers have political views that are in opposition to the current administration and they don't want to be in the audience then they need to speak with their leadership and get swapped out," one note to troops obtained by the outlet said. Another allegedly focused on the troops' physical appearance, bluntly commanding, 'No fat soldiers.' "This has been a bad week for the Army for anyone who cares about us being a neutral institution," a commander at Fort Bragg told the outlet. "This was shameful. I don't expect anything to come out of it, but I hope maybe we can learn from it long term." The Independent has contacted the 82nd Airborne Division for comment. During Trump's visit, a vendor was also reportedly allowed to sell campaign-style Make America Great Again merchandise to troops, and the crowd of soldiers booed and cheered at Trump's partisan speech, all of which broke with the military's tradition and regulations around remaining non-political. "Believe me, no one needs to be encouraged to boo the media," Sean Parnell, a top Pentagon spokesperson, said in response to the reporting. "Look no further than this query, which is nothing more than a disgraceful attempt to ruin the lives of young soldiers." The Tuesday speech in question saw Trump lash out at Democratic opponents like California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, baselessly accusing them of paying L.A. protesters and backing 'troublemakers, agitators and insurrectionists.' The president also defended his decision to send federalized California National Guard troops into the Los Angeles crisis over the objections of state and local leaders. 'Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness here at home, like is happening in California,' Trump said. 'As Commander in Chief, I will not let that happen. It's never going to happen.' Some criticized the event, arguing Trump was breaking longstanding political norms around respecting the military's independence. 'No president in modern history has done more to put the military in the middle of political and cultural crossfire than Donald Trump,' one columnist wrote in The New York Times. The criticisms come as Trump has pushed the boundaries of military norms in response to the Los Angeles protests by federalizing state National Guard troops and sending Marines to join in with the local police response to the civil unrest, coming perilously close to using the military for domestic law enforcement. The president has also vowed to use force on those who protest a Saturday parade in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army's founding that coincides with Trump's birthday. Other presidents have been accused of using appearances alongside the military for political points, including Joe Biden, who was criticized for a 2022 anti-Trump speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia that featured Marines in dress uniforms in the background.


The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
An AP photographer captures a powerful moment in the chaos of the Los Angeles protests
Jae Hong is based in Los Angeles and has worked with The Associated Press for more than 18 years, covering many of the city's biggest stories. Hong says protests in LA can change very quickly — one moment peaceful, the next chaotic — but he always tries to stay safe while telling the story through his images. Why I took this photo The protests against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown had been growing since Friday after a raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement downtown. I knew Sunday would be the biggest, most tense day. The National Guard had been called in, bringing even more people into the streets. How I made this photo When the protesters gathered again in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center, I followed. At first, it was peaceful. But moments later, LA police officers in riot gear arrived, ready to clear the area. A few hundred protesters moved onto the freeway and blocked the southbound lanes. The officers quickly surrounded the protesters, pushing them back onto the on-ramp. I was trapped in the middle of the crowd and the officers on the ramp, packed in so tightly that I could barely move. I kept my camera up to my eye, trying to capture the protesters' anger and fear. In the middle of it all, through the smoke and chaos, I saw this moment: A woman in a gas mask, standing face to face with a line of police in full riot gear, her hands raised, not to fight, not to give up, but appealing for calm. Why this photo works This photo shows the range of emotions in the crowd as protesters stood their ground. The smoke filling the air makes the moment feel even more intense. And it happened in broad daylight on a major Los Angeles freeway, making it even more powerful. ___ For more extraordinary AP photography, click here.