President Trump’s transgender ban threatens an Army major’s desire to continue family legacy

Major Vandal graduated from the US military Academy and has served for nearly 14 years. Vandal, citing other family members who served in the military, described military service as a critical component of identity. Trump’s transgender ban threatens Vandal’s desire to continue serving and to continue the family legacy. Vandal is among those suing the Trump administration over the transgender related order.

From Military Times:

One part of the Feb. 26 memo claimed the physical and mental health constraints of transgender service members prevented them from meeting military standards, such as readiness, lethality, honesty and integrity. Regarding that section, Vandal said, “It was a difficult thing to hear … how both my service and my personhood was characterized by the government.”

The Trump administration’s executive order was even more damning in its characterization of transgender troops.

“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” the executive order stated. “A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”

But lawyers and advocates who spoke to Military Times fundamentally disagreed — not only with what they characterized as the ban’s blatant discrimination against transgender personnel — but the rationale behind the ban. They pointed to a lack of evidence, and outright mistreatment, of those who had served their country honorably.

Additional Reading:

Ceder, R. (2025, April 2). ‘Utter chaos’: Amid confusing ban rollout, trans troops fight to serve. Military Times. Link.

Category: Donald Trump, Military issues, Veterans in the news