Transgender government employees see danger under Trump

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

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

Fram is one of thousands of transgender people who openly work in government positions, including in the defense and state departments, intelligence agencies and various other federal agencies. There are an estimated 15,000 transgender people working in the military alone. They say acceptance and support has increased in recent years.

But many now fear that the sweeping progress they have made over the past decade will be wiped out under President-elect Donald Trump, who likened gender transition to “mutilation” and has promised to roll back job protections and health care for trans workers , and has threatened to reinstate a ban on transgender people serving in the military.

“The mood in the community is concerned,” Fram said, noting she was speaking in her personal capacity and not on behalf of the Air Force.

Two transgender women at the State Department who spoke openly to the Times earlier this year about their experiences said after the election that they no longer wanted to be identified out of fear for their safety and position. One, a former Iraq combat veteran who later transferred and ended up at State, said she and her friends now fear “being targeted.”

Fram, a 21-year Air Force veteran and aeronautical engineer whose job includes selecting the satellites the U.S. sends into space, is a prominent transgender activist. Now with the rank of colonel, she said transgender colleagues stop her in the hallways and bombard her with questions and requests for advice.

“We've seen the campaign promises, the rhetoric about transgender people and also what's happening on Capitol Hill,” she said. “While none of us know exactly what will happen, there is still concern that it will not be good for transgender people serving in the military.”

A group of Republican lawmakers is already trying to ban new Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first transgender person elected to Congress, from using women's restrooms. A leader of that group, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), wants to extend bathroom bans at all federal facilities across the country.

Fears grew when Trump nominated Fox TV host Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary. Hegseth has been vocal about restrictions on women in the military and the removal of transgender soldiers.

In 2016, President Obama lifted a ban on transgender people serving in the military. When Trump took office the following year, he reinstated it, but it largely remained in place in the courts until President Biden overturned the ban. Many expect Trump to try to reinstate it.

Fram said she is still confident her community will persevere.

“What continues to amaze me about this community is the resilience of this group of amazing people, even though we have faced adversity so many times,” she said. “These officers who continue to put on their uniform every day and carry out the mission that was given to them… They are doing their job and plan to continue doing that job for as long as they are allowed to do so.”

No one knows exactly how far the Trump administration will go, and its efforts will undoubtedly face renewed legal challenges and other resistance.

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

There are several options Trump could pursue, she said.

In addition to reinstating a military ban, Trump loyalists could seek to deny “gender-affirming” health care by banning the use of federal funds or insurance plans for procedures that ease the transition, including hormone therapy and plastic surgery.

People in uniform carry an Outvets sign during a parade

Republicans have added an amendment to the mandatory defense authorization law that prohibits such care of minors. This would have an impact on the children of military members.

And many states already prohibit such care of minors in the civilian sector, an issue that is currently being examined by the Supreme Court.

When he first issued the military ban, Trump said it was expensive to have transgender people in the armed forces. A 2016 Rand study concluded that transgender health care contributed less than 0.1% of the health budget.

The State Department has numerous policies and union rules protecting transgender and gay diplomats and employees. However, such policies could be subject to new orders or withdrawals.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the State Department conducted a hunt for gay and lesbian employees, officials and diplomats known as the “Lavender Scare.” They were routinely fired; Many who persevered had to work in the closet. Some blackballing continued into the 1990s.

A person holds a sign that says: "Trans rights are human rights."

At the same time, the military and other federal agencies have often become national testing grounds for inclusion and diversity.

For the record:

12:33 p.m. December 19, 2024An earlier version of this article reported that President Franklin Roosevelt desegregated the Army. President Truman issued the desegregation order.

President Truman desegregated the military after World War II. Later, women were given broader roles, now including in combat.

In 1993, President Clinton took the first step toward lifting the ban on gays and lesbians in the military – a ban that was completely lifted in 2011.

Today, the State Department has teams advocating for LGBTQ+ rights abroad through embassies and sometimes in countries that criminalize homosexuality.

In 2011, Robyn McCutcheon, a diplomat, trained astronomer and Russia expert, while abroad in Romania, became the first person to transition while posted at a U.S. embassy.

“It is our shared responsibility to ensure that transgender people can live full lives without fear of harm,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said just last month. “The United States is committed to fighting for a world that accepts and respects transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people.”

US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during a press conference

“Until then,” he said, “we proudly stand to end transphobic discrimination, violence and murder.”

It is not clear whether these programs would continue under Trump and his nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida).

Logan Ireland, a Texas-born transgender man who is an officer with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, is advising others in the transgender community who want to join the military, which is especially urgent after the election.

“You are on this mission for a reason,” he told them. “Continue with your path to service in uniform… A ban is not yet in effect, and we will not know if and how it might take shape.”

Ireland said from Hawaii, where he is stationed, that the fight so far “has taught us how to fight, have resilience and integrity. “I have to stay positive.”

Rachel Levine is often described as the highest-ranking transgender person in the U.S. government, the first Senate-confirmed official who is transgender. She is the Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. She is a longtime public activist for trans rights and served as grand marshal at the Gay Pride parade in Washington last year.

Three women behind a table, draped with one "Empowering the Transgender Community in South Florida" banner

Levine, 67, a former Pennsylvania health secretary, had already made the transition when Biden nominated her for the HHS job. She overcame opposition from Republican senators, including Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, who attacked her over her support for gender-equitable health care and asked her whether transgender women should be allowed in women's sports.

“There was a lot of resistance from the broader LGBTQI+ community that has nothing to do with science and nothing to do with medicine,” she said. “And in the face of this setback, I find joy in my work. This makes me want to do more to promote health equity.”

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