Latest news with #transTroops
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
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.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pentagon orders military to pull books related to DEI and ‘gender ideology'
Military leaders and commanders at the Pentagon were ordered on Friday to go through their libraries and review all books that were related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), in the US military's latest anti-DEI move. Leaders were ordered to 'promptly identify' materials that promote 'divisive concepts and gender ideology [that] are incompatible with the department's core mission', according to a memo sent to leaders that was seen by the Associated Press. The department gave leaders until 21 May to remove the books. Also on Friday, the Pentagon sent a separate memo to the military's training academies that the institutions should have 'no consideration of race, ethnicity or sex' in their admission process and should focus 'exclusively on merit', though they can allow for students who show 'unique athletic talent', according to the AP. The department ordered the administrations to certify these standards by mid-June. Related: Trump news at a glance: military to immediately remove trans troops and use medical records to oust more The memo to leaders on books follows a similar order that was given to the military academies, including the US Naval Academy, that led to the removal of nearly 400 books from its library. Books that were withdrawn from the library included Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, novels by writers of color including the Palestinian American Etaf Rum, and academic books that examine race and gender. The department said that a temporary 'academic libraries committee' would convene to help the other colleges and academies remove similar books from their collections. Librarians and staff were ordered to use search terms like 'affirmative action', 'anti-racism', 'critical race theory' and 'white privilege' when determining which books could be subject for removal. The book bans also affect K-12 school libraries that are on military bases around the world. A list of banned children's books, including books about LGBTQ+ teens and others dealing with race, has been issued by the Department of Defense Education Activity, or DoDEA, which oversees the schools attended by the children of military families abroad. On the list is a New York Times bestseller chronicling the true story of a teenager set on fire by a fellow teenager while riding an Oakland, California, bus, as HuffPost reported. The list also includes a collection of poems and short stories by a New York Times bestselling author documenting the feelings and experiences of teenagers in love. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has vowed to purge DEI from the Pentagon, saying when he took office earlier this year that 'our diversity is our strength' is 'the single dumbest phrase in military history'. Since January, the Trump administration has been overseeing a widespread culling of anything the White House considers to be DEI within the federal government. The specific number of DEI roles that have been removed is unclear as the federal government isn't keeping track or reporting which roles have been eliminated, but estimates say hundreds or possibly thousands of employees have been fired since the start of the year.
