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Nic Talbott has dreamed of a career in the military for years.
He enrolled in a training program while in college and spent weekends in disguise crawling through mud or devising strategies in simulated battle scenarios.
But a tweet from Donald Trump in July 2017 destroyed all his plans.
The president’s tweet stated: “The United States government will not accept or allow transgender people to serve in any way in the US military.”
Talbott said: “It was as if my entire future had been taken from me in one moment via social media for no good reason.”
The 27-year-old has lived as a man since he was a teenager. His peers or the instructors who trained him did not treat him differently. But its president decided that he should not be allowed to serve his country because he is transgender.
“This ban treats transgender people as minors,” he said.
“This prohibition implies that we are not that worthy, we are not that capable, and none of that is true at all.”
Mr. Talbott had to drop out of his officer training course and decided to fight the president in court.
It is unclear how many people have been affected by President Trump’s policy. Figures from 2016 show there were between 2,150 and 10,790 transgender people on active duty or on reserves, according to think tank Rand Corporation.
Mr. Talbott had to drop out of his officer training course and decided to fight the president in court.
After two years of legal limbo, the Supreme Court allowed Trump’s policy to go into effect.
Talbott became a substitute teacher at his old high school, his dreams of a military career shattered. Then the coronavirus pandemic closed schools.
“All this time it has been an absolute roller coaster for me emotionally, physically, in my personal life, there are so many unknowns,” he said.
He still doesn’t understand why President Trump persisted with a policy that changed his life and that of so many others.
Trump cited the health care costs of transgender members of the military. The army would pay between $ 2.4 million (£ 1.8 million) and $ 8.4 million (£ 6.4 million) a year if it covered the cost of medical procedures associated with troops’ gender transitions, according to Rand Corporation. Those figures are a tiny fraction of the Pentagon’s medical budget of $ 49.5 billion (£ 37.4 billion) in 2020.
But a new commander-in-chief is preparing to inherit the keys to the White House.
Joe Biden has made clear his commitment to protect the rights of the LGBTQ community
Joe Biden has promised to allow transgender people to serve openly in the military. He also recognized the support of the transgender community during his election victory speech.
Biden has made clear his commitment to protecting the rights of the LGBTQ community.
“This is the civil rights issue of our time; if this fails, think about everything else that fails,” said the president-elect during the election campaign. “It would have a profound effect on who we are as a people.”
Biden promised that during his first 100 days in office he would pass a law that would make discrimination against the LGBTQ community illegal.
But his campaign promises are based on Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate. Control of the Senate depends on two runoff elections in Georgia on January 5.
Democrats must win both Senate races to maintain power on Capitol Hill and provide Biden with enough votes to pass the legislation.
“When I found out that Biden had won it was like a huge sigh of relief for me,” Talbott said, adding that he thinks it’s a question of whether, and not when, transgender people will be able to openly serve in the military again.
“I know the Biden administration has a lot of work to do, but this ban is something that could be lifted very quickly. I think there are projections that say it could be done in about 30 days,” he said.
“I have spent my entire life preparing to join the military. I really hope that with the new presidency I can finally start moving forward and being a true adult.”
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