HuffPost: The Transgender Man At The Center Of Donald Trump's Military Ban Is Speaking Out

[Dennis Donovan]

HuffPost - The Transgender Man At The Center Of Donald Trump’s Military Ban Is Speaking Out

“I was serving without an issue. Why are they trying to make an issue where none existed previously?” Nicolas Talbott said.

Brandi Buchman
May 9, 2025, 10:33 AM EDT

During the early days of his basic training for the U.S. Army, there came a time when Nicolas Talbott stood with 64 other men preparing to answer questions from a superior who had arrived to inspect their quarters. As inspections ended, everyone was asked why they joined the military.

Until that moment, Talbott had only told a few fellow trainees that he was transgender.

“My strategy was to blend in and be judged solely on my performance,” he said.

But that day, after inspections, the words came tumbling out for all to hear when it came time for him to answer why he was there.

“I said, ‘I wanted to prove that transgender people like me can do this and we have something to contribute,’” Talbott recalled saying in an interview with HuffPost on Wednesday.

/snip

[hlthe2b]

1. Honestly? I think it is none of the military's damned business if they are serving competently, ethically

and fulfilling their role as would any other member. It is the business of military doctors, however, but with the exception of ensuring appropriate overall health and compliance with needed preventive care (e.g, vaccines), I don't think that should be shared with non-medical professionals or others--just as with HiPAA in the civilian world.

Get out of our bedrooms, medical offices, postal service deliveries, children's schools, playgrounds, toyboxes, and any and everywhere else they have no damned business.

[ShazzieB]

2. Talbott's lawyer hit the nail right on the head.

“This is designed to be punitive,” Minter said. “It is designed not just to kick people out but to harm them. It is utterly baffling.”

I absolutely agree, and (because we know everything is personal with Trump), I've often wondered exactly what he has against trans people personally, if somewhere along the line a trans person did something that displeased him, and he is now taking it out on all of them. It would be in character for him, because he is so small-minded and petty, and because holding grudges and getting back at people for real or imagined offenses is his m.o.

Either way, this sucks, and he sucks, but we all knew that already.