Three Transgender Cadets Barred from Commissioning Despite Graduating from U.S. Air Force Academy

Trans Air Force Academy cadets allowed to graduate but barred from commissioning

In a historic yet somber moment at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Class of 2025 stood in formation, diplomas in hand, prepared to take the oath as second lieutenants. Yet three graduates—Hunter Marquez among them—were quietly held back. Despite meeting every standard of military readiness, academic rigor, and personal discipline, they were barred from commissioning due to the reinstatement of a ban on transgender service members.

These three individuals are the first openly transgender cadets to graduate from the Academy. Under Executive Order 14183—recently reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court—transgender individuals are prohibited from serving in the military. The unsigned decision, issued on May 6, reversed a lower court's injunction and permitted the Department of Defense to begin separations of transgender service members. The ruling was made without oral arguments and faced strong dissent from the Court’s liberal justices.

Marquez, 23, had trained for years to become a combat systems officer. He earned dual degrees in aeronautical engineering and applied mathematics and passed the Air Force's male fitness standards—all while living openly as himself, having transitioned during his time at the Academy. Like the other two cadets, he was placed on administrative absence, denied the commissioning oath, and warned that he may be asked to repay the full cost of his taxpayer-funded education if he does not voluntarily separate. That cost is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Air Force officials later clarified that involuntary separation would not trigger repayment, but the broader message was unmistakable: these graduates, regardless of performance, were not welcome to serve because of their gender identity.

A staff member at the Academy, speaking anonymously due to fear of retaliation, emphasized that all three graduates passed fitness tests for both male and female standards and earned academic distinction. “We want warfighters. We want people with grit, that are resilient. They have done all that,” the staffer said.

Marquez is also a plaintiff in Talbott v. United States, a federal lawsuit challenging the ban. In a sworn declaration, he said the policy brands transgender people as “undisciplined, selfish, and dishonest,” a characterization he called deeply inaccurate. “I have achieved alongside my peers throughout my time at the Academy,” he wrote.

The policy’s impact is not abstract. For cadets like Marquez, it has meant navigating logistical and emotional obstacles—seeking out gender-compliant facilities, accelerating coursework in anticipation of expulsion, and watching their commissioning week become a test of mental fortitude. Though Marquez continues to receive medical benefits and cadet pay, he understands those could be temporary. He is now applying to the University of Colorado Boulder for a graduate program in aerospace engineering.

“There’s still a lot of anger and frustration and sadness,” Marquez said. “Just because I have worked so hard to be a second lieutenant in the Air Force, and at the very end that was taken from me.”

In response, nearly 1,000 alumni of the U.S. military academies have signed an open letter expressing solidarity with transgender cadets and midshipmen. The letter declares: “Being transgender is in no way incompatible with any of our Academies’ cherished virtues and values.”