Retired Brig. Gen. Marty France stood in his dress uniform outside the southern entrance to the U.S. Air Force Academy on May 28, holding a sign calling for transgender cadets to be allowed to serve as a steady stream of cars drove onto base for graduation.
Three transgender cadets “walked” at this year’s graduation ceremony, but were barred from commissioning as officers because the U.S. Supreme Court had granted an emergency request by the Trump administration three weeks earlier, allowing a ban on transgender service members to be enforced while government appeals work their way through the courts.
France – who graduated from the Academy in 1981, taught there for six years and led the astronautical engineering department for 13 years – said the reaction to the protest from passing vehicles was overwhelmingly positive.
“I think the ratio of honks of support to people flipping us off was 20 to one,” he said.
Protesting with France outside South Gate were his wife of 44 years – to the day; it was their anniversary – Becky Kercher France; and USAFA Class of ’83 alumna Marty Brodzik. Brodzik’s sign said, “Stop the hate, not the service,” and Becky France’s said, “Proud USAFA wife … and mom … Let them serve!”
The protest was small by design because France was in uniform.
“My lawyer friends say that I cannot be part of an organized protest if I’m in uniform, but that I can express my sentiments, consistent with my First Amendment rights to free speech,” he wrote in a Substack post days before graduation.
He organized the protest to show support not just for the transgender cadets graduating Thursday but also for “the thousands that will be unconstitutionally and illegally separated from the military over the next several weeks,” he wrote.
The three transgender graduates had “excelled in their classwork, in military training and physically,” passing both genders’ physical fitness tests, according to an article in the Colorado Springs Gazette. Still, they were barred from commissioning because of a Jan. 27 executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
We will always be proud to count you among us. Letter of support for transgender service members
It said that “… military service must be reserved for those mentally and physically fit for duty” and “the Armed Forces must adhere to high mental and physical health standards to ensure our military can deploy, fight and win … without the benefit of routine medical treatment or special provisions.”
One of the graduates, Hunter Marquez, who spoke to the Gazette and agreed to be identified, is a plaintiff in one of multiple lawsuits against the administration.
He said he found the language of the order demeaning, according to the Gazette.
“It says that I am undisciplined, selfish and dishonest. None of those are correct descriptions of my character or my abilities. I have achieved alongside my peers throughout my time at the Academy,” the paper quoted him as saying in court documents.
Active-duty transgender service members have until June 6 to identify and separate from the military, and reservists until July 7, a senior Pentagon official told reporters in a briefing in mid-May. Service academy cadets are considered active-duty.
It was not immediately clear what the three Air Force Academy graduates intended to do, although according to the Gazette Marquez will be pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Brig. Gen. France was among hundreds of alumni from four of the five U.S. service academies who have signed a letter expressing solidarity and support for transgender service members.
“We admire the courage and integrity you have shown by living as your true selves, especially knowing that doing so could put you in professional and personal danger,” the letter says.
“And we recognize the discipline you have embodied, both personally and professionally, to succeed under the rigorous academic, physical and military standards set by our Academies.
“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.”
