Transgender government employees see dangers under Trump

Washington—— The Air Force lieutenant colonel left the Pentagon one day and returned the next — with a new name and a new gender identity.

Bree Fram remembers the atmosphere in 2020 as warm and supportive. Her colleague brought cookies. When the Pentagon officially changed her gender on her employment records, she felt her journey was complete.

Frum is one of thousands of openly transgender people working in government positions, including at the Departments of Defense and State, intelligence agencies and various other federal departments. There are an estimated 15,000 transgender people in the military alone. Acceptance and support have grown significantly in recent years, they say.

But many now fear the broad gains they have made over the past decade will be reversed under President-elect Donald Trump, who likened gender transition to “mutilation” and vowed to eliminate jobs for transgender workers protections and health care, and threatened to reimpose a ban on transgender people serving in the military.

“The sentiment in the community is concerning,” Frum said, noting that she was speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Air Force.

Two transgender women at the State Department who spoke publicly about their experiences to The Times earlier this year said after the election that they no longer wanted to be identified out of concern for their safety and positions. One, a former Iraq combat veteran who switched careers and came to State College, said she and her friends now fear “being targeted.”

Frum, a 21-year Air Force veteran and aerospace engineer whose work includes selecting satellites the United States launches into space, is a prominent activist in the transgender movement. She said trans colleagues stopped her in the hallways to ask her questions and seek advice.

“We’ve seen the campaign promises, the rhetoric around transgender people and what’s happening on Capitol Hill,” she said. “So while none of us know what will happen, there is certainly concern that this will be detrimental to transgender people serving in the military.”

A group of Republican lawmakers have tried to ban incoming Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first transgender person elected to Congress, from using women’s restrooms. The group’s leader, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), wants to expand the bathroom ban to all federal facilities nationwide.

Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.) (center) leaves a House Democratic meeting on Capitol Hill on Nov. 19, 2024.

(Mark Schiffelbein/AP)

Concerns are growing as Trump nominates Fox host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary. Hegseth has been outspoken about his belief in restricting women and expelling transgender service members from the military.

In 2016, President Obama lifted the ban on transgender people serving in the military. Trump reinstated the ban when he took office the following year, but it was largely stalled in court until President Biden repealed it. Many expect Trump to try to reintroduce the policy.

Brahm said she still believes her community will persevere, though.

“What always amazes me about this community is the resilience of this amazing group of people despite… the adversities we face so many times,” she said. “These public servants continue to put on their uniforms every day and fulfill the mission assigned to them… They are there to do their job and plan to continue to do that job as long as they are allowed to do so.”

Sailors kiss as they march during the 2011 San Diego Gay Pride Parade.

(Gregory Bull/AP)

No one knows for sure how far the Trump administration will go, and its efforts will undoubtedly once again encounter legal challenges and other headwinds.

“We’ve seen this movie before,” said Jennifer Pizer, the Los Angeles-based chief legal officer of Lambda Legal, a civil rights organization focused on LGBTQ+ issues. “This is a group of people who are flouting standard rules … and look forward to spending an indefinite amount of time in court.”

Trump could pursue a number of options, she said.

In addition to reimposing the military ban, Trump supporters may try to deny “gender-affirming” health care, banning federal funds or insurance programs from procedures that facilitate transition, including hormone treatments and plastic surgery.

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), center, hatless, marches with members of the OutVets, a group of gay veterans, during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Boston in 2015.

(Steven Sene/AP)

Republicans added a rider to the must-pass national defense authorization bill banning such care for minors. This will have an impact on the children of service members.

Many states have banned such care for minors in the civil sphere, and the Supreme Court is currently reviewing the issue.

When Trump first enacted the military ban, he said it would be costly to allow transgender people to serve in the military. A 2016 RAND Corporation study concluded that transgender health care adds less than 0.1 percent to health budgets.

At the State Department, there are numerous policies and union rules in place to protect transgender and gay diplomats and employees. But such policies could be subject to new executive orders or reversals.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the State Department engaged in a manhunt known as the “Lavender Scare” against gay employees, civil servants and diplomats. They were often fired; many who persisted had to work in the closet. Some blackballing continued into the 1990s.

People attend a rally on Transgender Day of Visibility in Washington, March 2023.

(Jacqueline Martin/AP)

At the same time, the military and other federal agencies often serve as national testing grounds for inclusion and diversity issues.

After World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt desegregated the military. Later, women were given a wider range of roles, including today’s combat roles.

In 1993, President Clinton took the first step toward lifting the ban on gays and lesbians in the military, which ended completely in 2011.

Today, the State Department has dedicated teams advocating for LGBTQ+ rights abroad through embassies and sometimes even in countries where homosexuality is criminalized.

In 2011, diplomat, trained astronomer and Russia expert Robyn McCutcheon became the first person to be transferred while serving at the U.S. Embassy in Romania.

“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that transgender people can live full lives without fear of harm,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month. “America is committed to a world where trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people are accepted and respected.”

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken (pictured in September) said last month that “it is our collective responsibility to ensure that transgender people can live full lives without fear of harm.”

(Heather Khalifa/AP)

“Until then,” he said, “we are proud to advocate for an end to transgender discrimination, violence and homicide.”

It’s unclear whether those plans will continue under Trump and his nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Logan Ireland, a Texas-born transgender man and an officer with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, counsels others in the transgender community who want to join the military, which has taken on added urgency after the election.

“You are on this mission for a reason,” he told them. “Continuing the journey of uniformed service… the ban has not yet taken effect and we do not know if or how it will be implemented.”

Speaking from Hawaii, where he is stationed, Ireland said the struggle so far “taught us how to fight, how to be resilient, how to have integrity. I have to stay positive.

Rachel Levine is often described as the highest-ranking transgender person in the U.S. government and the first transgender official to be confirmed by the Senate. She is the assistant health secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services. She is a long-time public activist for transgender rights and served as grand marshal at last year’s Gay Pride Parade in Washington.

Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine (center) with Transinclusive Group Executive Director Tatiana Williams (left) and Arianna Center founder Arianna Inuri in June 2022 Arianna Inurritegui-Lint speaks after participating in a roundtable on transgender health in Miami.

(Wilfredo Lee/AP)

Levine, 67, a former Pennsylvania health secretary, was already transgender when Biden nominated her for the HHS position. She overcame resistance from Republican senators, including Rand Paul of Kentucky, who attacked her for supporting gender-affirming health care and questioned whether she should allow transgender women to participate in women’s sports.

“There’s a lot of resistance to the broader LGBTQI+ community that has nothing to do with science, nothing to do with medicine,” she said. “Faced with this resistance, I found joy in my work. It made me want to do more for health equity.