Nearly 300 alumni from across the military service academies are offering their support to transgender cadets and Midshipmen amid the Trump administration's attempts to ban transgender people from the military -- efforts that have gotten tied up in an increasingly complicated legal battle.
Alumni representing every academy and a broad spectrum of generations have signed onto an open letter aimed at providing transgender and other gender-nonconforming students with encouragement as the administration disparages transgender service members, according to a copy of the letter shared with Military.com ahead of its wider release.
"As you know, our academies hold dear and promote specific virtues and values, including honor, integrity, duty, courage, country, service, respect, commitment and excellence," the letter says. "And we firmly believe that the simple fact of being transgender is in no way incompatible with any of our academies' cherished virtues and values. Rather, we understand that living authentically as a trans person, especially at our academies, is often a profound expression of them."
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In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to come up with a policy on transgender troops that reflects the administration's stance that being transgender "is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member."
Last month, the Pentagon followed Trump's order with a policy that repeated the idea that gender dysphoria is "incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service." Gender dysphoria is the medical term for the feeling of distress caused by someone's gender identity differing from their sex assigned at birth.
Transgender individuals are "subject to separation from a military service academy" and "will not be subject to monetary repayment of educational benefits" if the only reason for their separation is their gender identity, the Pentagon's February memo added.
It's unclear exactly how many transgender cadets and Midshipmen are at the academies right now or whether the academies issued formal policies to implement Trump's executive order and the Defense Department policy.
Spokespeople for the Air Force Academy and Merchant Marine Academy did not respond to requests for comment by Military.com's deadline. A spokesperson for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point declined to comment, citing ongoing lawsuits against the ban.
A Navy spokesperson responded to Military.com's request for comment for the Naval Academy by saying only that, on Saturday, the service paused "the implementation of all directives pertaining to sailors with a current diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria, including the involuntary and voluntary separation of sailors."
A spokesperson for the Coast Guard confirmed that there is one transgender cadet at the Coast Guard Academy and added that, "as a result of ongoing litigation, and in coordination with the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard has not initiated action to separate transgender service members."
There is also at least one transgender cadet at the Air Force Academy who is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that has resulted in the Trump administration's transgender military ban being blocked from taking effect, at least temporarily.
The cadet, Hunter Marquez, is a senior who transitioned during his time at the academy, according to a sworn statement Marquez filed as part of the lawsuit.
Because of the uncertainty about whether Marquez will be allowed to stay at the academy until graduation in May, he has had to accelerate his coursework to finish all his credits this month so at the very least he can still get his undergraduate degree even if he is forced to leave, according to the declaration. He was also informed he won't be allowed to commission as an officer and that his post-graduation combat systems officer slot has been withdrawn.
"These changes have occurred despite my successful academic and military performance at the U.S. Air Force Academy over the past four years, creating significant disruption and uncertainty at what should be the culmination of my education and the beginning of my military career," Marquez wrote in the statement. "My command has assured me that, from their perspective, my being transgender has had no negative impact on my ability to meet academy standards."
Amid anecdotes like that and the administration's rhetoric around transgender service members, several service academy alumni felt the need to speak out and let cadets and Midshipmen know there are people who know what it's like to attend an academy who support them, one of the organizers of the letter told Military.com. The organizer spoke on condition of anonymity because, in addition to being an alum, they also currently work at one of the academies.
"Unfortunately, because there are so few trans and non-binary cadets and Midshipmen, there's a lot of fear right now at the moment about speaking up," the organizer said. "We thought, in terms of what we could do, was just spread this message of support on behalf of alumni with something really having this personal lived experience that could speak to: 'We know what this takes. We've all been there. We've gone through this. And there's really nothing about you that is incompatible with this.'"
While the letter writers got some help distributing it for signatures by the Modern Military Association of America, an LGBTQ+ military advocacy group, the letter was not organized by advocacy groups and was mostly passed around through informal alumni networks for signatures, the organizer told Military.com.
As of Monday, there were 273 signatures on the letter.
Signatories on the letter include alumni from all five service academies. The oldest alums on the letter are from the class of 1968, and the youngest graduated just last year.
"Whatever happens, please know: So long as you continue to demonstrate the courage, integrity, discipline and commitment that you have thus far, we will always be proud to count you among us and the long line of those who have gone before," the letter says. "Thank you for your commitment to our country, and for being who you are."
Emily Elledge, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 2012, said she signed the letter so that cadets and Midshipmen who "may feel right now as if they are under attack by the administration ... know that there are people who have also served this country who support them."
Having been at the academy when "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was repealed, Elledge said she has seen firsthand the difference that being able to live authentically makes for Midshipmen. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was the policy that banned gay, lesbian and bisexual troops from serving openly and was repealed in 2011.
"They don't have to constantly be worrying about someone finding out something that's extremely important to them as a person, and I think that that allows people to then fulfill the mission better," Elledge told Military.com in a phone interview. "And then them living authentically didn't detract from anyone else's personal experience."
Another signatory on the letter, Jennifer Bower from the Air Force Academy Class of 2006, said she was shocked by the "hurtful" language in Trump's executive order and hopes that cadets and Midshipmen feel heartened by the support from alumni.
"For them to receive that recognition and support from people who know exactly what they are going through, from the perspective of what it takes to succeed at a service academy and to survive it, I know that that would have been very meaningful to me as a cadet," Bower said in a phone interview.
For now, transgender cadets and Midshipmen, along with other transgender service members, are in a state of limbo as the ban is being challenged in court.
Earlier this month, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to block the ban from taking effect while a lawsuit works its way through the court system. Last week, a second federal judge issued a separate injunction that also blocked the ban from taking effect.
The Justice Department appealed the first injunction, and the appeals court last week paused that injunction from taking effect while it more thoroughly considers the administration's motion to overturn the injunction. But the appeals court also warned that, if "any action occurs that negatively impacts service members" while it is deliberating, it would reconsider pausing the injunction "expeditiously."
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