Commander Emily Shilling served nearly 20 years in the U.S. Navy as a combat aviator with over 60 missions. Fighter pilots are very hard for the military to find, nonetheless. Shilling will be removed from service by Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. So will many others, like former Navy SEAL Kristin Beck, who served 20 years in Naval Special Warfare, including with SEAL Team Six. She earned the Bronze Star with Combat “V,” the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Purple Heart.
Shilling and Beck are heroes the military will never get back, and the absence of service members like them will make America less ready, endanger troops, and hurt recruiting efforts.
Yet, these folks aren’t good enough to serve for Trump, who just banned transgender service members for the second time. His first effort was reversed by Joe Biden; this time, the Supreme Court allowed the ban to take effect as the matter winds its way through the courts. A Trump ally, Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) has introduced legislation to codify Trump’s executive order and ensure no Democratic president can undo the damage he has caused.
Hegseth’s service could never compare to that of Shilling or Beck, even though Hegseth likes to pretend to be a Navy SEAL as he sycophantically follows them around the country during special events. Trump never served a day in his life. That is why it is odd to me and to many others that they are so adamant about preventing transgender troops — and likely, before his term ends, gay Americans — from serving in the armed forces.
Trump’s disdain and disrespect for veterans will go down in history as reprehensible, as will Moore’s, who voted against the bipartisan PACT Act, which expanded health care and benefits to millions of veterans, and numerous other bipartisan veterans’ legislation.
Transgender Americans have served with honor — from the decks of aircraft carriers to combat zones around the globe. They fly missions, lead teams, and complete the same rigorous training as everyone else in the military.
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Now, Trump and Hegseth are reportedly planning to direct military commanders to identify troops who are transgender or have gender dysphoria, so they can undergo medical checks and then be purged.
This policy is an ethical failure and will be a logistical one, too. Removing thousands of trained service members during a recruiting crisis makes us weaker, not stronger. Forcing out skilled troops, pilots, linguists, mechanics, medics, because they sought medically necessary care or live authentically doesn’t protect national security. It undermines it.
That is not about readiness. That is about hate. If Trump cared about military readiness, he would invest in veterans’ programs and bolster rewards for service — not dismantle the Department of Veterans Affairs, as Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency have done.
Many trans service members will now have to closet themselves in fear. They will be forced to self identify promptly. If they haven’t figured that out yet, then the rest of their service will be a minefield. Any military leader will tell you that fear is no way to lead, and it reduces readiness and hurts the fighting force. If only Trump, Musk, or Hegseth actually had the military knowledge, or cared about command leadership.
If you’re wondering what the long-term strategy is, it’s simple: drive transgender Americans out of public life, one agency at a time — and purge military leaders so they can’t stop it. It starts at the military, it always does with authoritarians. Then health care, education, civil service. The goal is to make trans people invisible. But it will not stop there. Anyone who is different will be erased from the military, just as Hegseth and Trump are erasing the contributions of women, minorities, people of color, and gay Americans from official military history — an area where the Supreme Court and federal law cannot easily intervene.
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Trump’s policies are dangerous, and anyone who supports his whitewashing of our military is complicit. These changes will shrink the number of qualified service members and turn the U.S. military into a place built by and for white men alone, weakening our forces, undermining readiness, and leaving us at a disadvantage. That is exactly the kind of military despots, dictators, and religious extremists would love to see.
We cannot wait for the next election to fix this. We need voices inside and outside the military to speak up now and say: enough. We will not purge our military. We will not gender-wash, trans-wash, gay-wash, or whitewash our ranks. We will fight back — with truth, with honor, and with the conviction that our strength comes from our diversity, not in spite of it.