As Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, stood on a stage two weeks ago and delivered his now-infamous speech on the military’s new “war on woke” to hundreds of silent, high-ranking military officials, LGBTQ veterans heard what he said loud and clear: This is not the military I gave my life for, and he doesn’t care.

William Kibler is no stranger to danger and conflict. He served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War. He was stationed there months before 241 U.S. service members died in a terrorist attack targeting the Marine barracks — the deadliest day in history for the Marines since Iwo Jima in World War II. Kibler was not personally in the barracks at the time of the attack.

The former Lance Corporal has a clear reason why he served: the Constitution and the ideals it represents to Americans and democracy everywhere. Today, he is president of GayVeteransUS Inc., a nonprofit veterans organization that works to support the LGBTQ veteran community. (His remarks in this story reflect his personal beliefs and he is not speaking on behalf of the organization.)

“Every veteran took an oath to protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” Kibler told the Blade. “Our oath does not have an expiration date, and every veteran that I know lives up to living with those standards.”

Those standards include protecting all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, or any other feature the Trump administration has deemed “woke.” As President Trump began to militarize U.S. cities under the guise of a “crime emergency,” Kibler saw this as a direct threat not only to the Constitution, but to Americans everywhere.

“It’s a way of life for most veterans, to protect the Constitution, and when you go up against sending Marines into LA or Chicago or Houston or wherever, you’re violating your oath of enlistment, there’s a difference,” the self-described “Marine who happens to be gay,” rather than a “gay Marine,” explained.

“I did not enlist to be ordered to go against my fellow Americans or discredit the U.S. Constitution,” he wrote in a letter to General Eric M. Smith, Commandant of the Marine Corps, the highest-ranking Marine. “I did sign up to protect Americans’ U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, which is something that I am now doing as a Veteran.”

He asks General Smith to “rescind my title as ‘US Marine’” due to the consistent “engaging in hostile actions in Los Angeles,” as videos of National Guard units suppressing protesters’ constitutional right to peacefully demonstrate continue to go viral on social media.

Kibler continues, telling General Smith: “Somewhere along the way you lost your Honor.” He finishes his request with another chilling statement: “May I respectfully remind you of the Nuremberg Trials. From now on, I will simply be referred to as Former Marine.”

It’s common to hear Marines say, “Once a Marine, always a Marine,” because the title is considered lifelong and sacred. For someone to ask for their title — earned after four years of service — to be disavowed is telling.

Kibler’s dissatisfaction with the recent changes in military attitudes extends to the slew of anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives being pushed under Trump’s leadership — programs designed to level the playing field for underrepresented communities seeking jobs within the military, and ones that, contrary to Hegseth’s claims, have never been used to hire unqualified people.

Kibler is not alone in feeling disappointed in the recent actions of the U.S. military. Lene Mees de Tricht is a two-branch veteran and currently works as the Deputy Director for Member Engagement at Common Defense, the country’s largest veteran-led grassroots organization committed to promoting progressive ideals within the military.

“Threatening the jobs of people who disagree with you threatens the neutrality of the military and the revered position it holds in our national discourse,” she told the Blade. “They’re taking a hammer to an institution that matters a lot to Americans.”

That “hammer” being swung by Hegseth, Mees de Tricht explained, is having rippling effects on the military’s determination and cohesion. She went on to say its “impact has been catastrophic on morale.”

“I’m in contact with a lot of trans service members and a lot of Black service members, and they’re all wondering what’s going to happen to their jobs,” she said. “The Secretary of Defense is sending the message that you’re not welcome here. And that’s not just wrong — it’s against the aspirations of the America we talk about wanting to be.”

Mees de Tricht explained that the anti-DEI efforts the administration has pushed forward are ignoring a crucial strength that helps make the U.S. military one of the strongest in the world.

“Our military has become as ‘great’ as it has in part because it’s embraced people from all walks of life to serve the country. Stripping away DEI is short-sighted and out of step with what the American people want,” the Coast Guard and Navy vet said. “DEI made it possible for us to step outside of ourselves and think about how our adversary is thinking. Making the military less diverse will make us less capable, less resilient, and less intelligent.”

That asset, which has become a liability — at least in words under the Trump administration — will have lasting impacts, Mees de Tricht highlighted, ones that could affect those offering their lives to protect the country and the Constitution.

“It’s going to make the force weaker, more rigid, and more brittle…The military is more than combat arms — intelligence only works if we can get inside our adversary’s head. DEI made that possible.”

Mees de Tricht shared that while in the Navy, there were some Mexicans who served alongside her to earn citizenship — an action that, at its core, is about providing diverse and inclusive efforts within the military — that helped her.

“A lot of our work took us to South and Central America on that ship, and having somebody on board who understood the language and were familiar enough with the cultures made my experience of those deployments significantly easier — and it made me the person I am today,” she explained.

“With every ounce of respect due to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the current occupant of that office is dead wrong.”

This attack on identity within the military is not foreign for Mees de Tricht or Kibler. Both expressed deep frustration at the way discharges of LGBTQ military personnel have historically been carried out.

“We serve in different branches, but we’re unified by one common factor: we served honorably, and most of us have our honorable discharge,” Kibler said. “Some of us are still fighting the system to get that honorable discharge because they were kicked out — it’s been so many years, and people are still fighting to get their upgrades.”

Mees de Tricht is one of those people and has made it part of her personal mission to prevent this from happening again.

“I was discharged from the Coast Guard for being transgender in 2012, and I’m so sorry this is happening again. My life’s work has been to try to stop this from happening to anybody else — and it’s happening again.”

Despite the details surrounding her discharge from the military, Mees de Tricht emphasized that while there might not seem like a light at the end of the tunnel, there are people everywhere attempting to light a path.

“I survived. In fact, I thrived once I found my feet. I hope that gives folks hope.”

While giving a televised speech to U.S. military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Tuesday, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, denounced past military leadership for being too “woke,” citing DEI and LGBTQ groups in the Department of Defense.

The 45-minute speech, delivered to an unprecedented number of U.S. military leaders called in from around the world, emphasized “warrior ethos” and decried what Hegseth described as “decades of decay” within the military.

“This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department,” Hegseth told the silent crowd. “No more identity months, DEI Offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions… We are done with that shit.”’

The former “Fox & Friends” weekend co-host continued to make digs at inclusive measures the military—and the federal government—first widely implemented in the 1990s to comply with federal legislation, specifically the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“For too long we have promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons, based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called ‘firsts,’” he said, despite no proof that the military has been more lenient with minority applicants. “They had to put out dizzying DEI and LGBTQ+ statements. We were told females and males were the same thing. Or that males who think they are females are totally normal.

“An entire generation of generals and admirals were told that they must parrot the insane fallacy that ‘our diversity is our strength,’” Hegseth continued. “We know our unity is our strength.”

One theme Hegseth returned to throughout his speech was his mission of “clearing out the debris” within the military—highlighting how he fired a number of high-ranking officials in the department. “We became the Woke Department… The leaders who created the woke department have already driven out too many hard chargers.”

“It is nearly impossible to change a culture with the same people who helped create, or even benefited from that culture,” he said. “Underneath the ‘woke’ garbage is a deeper problem, a more important problem that we are fixing fast.”

Hegseth also repeatedly described himself as the “Secretary of War,” and the Department of Defense as the “Department of War.” Not only is that inaccurate—it would require congressional approval to change the department’s name and roles—but it also underscored his aggressive stance on international conflict. He went as far as to say, “From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: Warfighting.”

“My job has been to determine which leaders did what they must to answer to the prerogatives of civilian leadership, and which leaders are truly invested in the woke department—and incapable of embracing the War department,” he said. “We are in the profession of arms.” Later telling the military leaders “If you disagree, you should do the honorable thing and resign.”

Hegseth also mentioned two tests he is pushing throughout the military structure: the “1990 test” and the “E6 test.” The 1990 test compares current standards to those of 1990, with any superior past standards to be reinstated. The E6 test requires changes to either complicate or empower leadership at the staff sergeant and petty officer level. If the changes complicate, they are removed.

He argued this would make the military “apolitical, faithful to their oath, and the Constitution,” while also invoking God and religion multiple times—despite the Constitution’s explicit separation of church and state.

Hegseth also took aim at current standards within the military, saying that if women could not meet them, they would be turned away from service because “it is what it is.”

“Today, at my direction, this is the first of 10 Department of War directives that are arriving at your commands and inbox… will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS… returns to the highest MALE standard only.

“This is not about preventing women from serving… but when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral. If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is.”

“Real toxic leadership is promoting destructive ideologies that are anathema to the Constitution, the laws of nature, and nature’s God,” he said.

According to Social Work Today, a trade publication that works toward being “an essential resource for social work professionals” found that “79,000 LGBTQ+ service members are serving in the diverse branches of the US armed forces, and an additional 1 million LGBTQ+ individuals are identified as veterans.”

Three military families sued the Department of Defense on Monday after President Trump’s anti-transgender policies barred their transgender adolescent and adult children from accessing essential gender-affirming medical care.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, challenges the legality of the Trump administration’s decision to ban coverage of any transgender-related medical care under Department of Defense health insurance plans.

Under the new directive, military clinics and hospitals are prohibited from providing continuing care to transgender adolescent and adult children. It also prevents TRICARE, the military’s health insurance program, from covering the costs of gender-affirming care for both transgender youth and young adults, regardless of where that care is received.

A press release from the families’ attorney explained that the plaintiffs are proceeding under pseudonyms to protect their safety and privacy. They are represented by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP, and Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP.

“This is a sweeping reversal of military health policy and a betrayal of military families who have sacrificed for our country,” said Sarah Austin, Staff Attorney at GLAD Law. “When a servicemember is deployed and focused on the mission they deserve to know their family is taken care of. This Administration has backtracked on that core promise and put servicemembers at risk of losing access to health care their children desperately need.”

“President Trump has illegally overstepped his authority by abruptly cutting off necessary medical care for military families,” said Shannon Minter, Legal Director at NCLR. “This lawless directive is part of a dangerous pattern of this administration ignoring legal requirements and abandoning our servicemembers.”

“President Trump’s Executive Order blocks military hospitals from giving transgender youth the care their doctors deem necessary and their parents have approved,” said Sharif Jacob, partner at Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP. “Today we filed a lawsuit to put an end to his order, and the agency guidance implementing it.”

“This administration is unlawfully targeting military families by denying essential care to their transgender children,” said Liam Brown, an associate with Keker, Van Nest & Peters. “We will not stand by while those who serve are stripped of the ability to care for their families.”