Ousted From Military For Being Trans, Bree Fram Is Now Making Congressional Bid
“I’m not going to run away from my oath to the Constitution,” said the 23-year veteran of the military.
Featured Images: Courtesy of Bree Fram for Congress
“We are in a moment where good enough simply doesn’t cut it. Virginia deserves a leader who will stand up to President Trump and defend democracy. As a rocket scientist and 23-year veteran of the military, I will fight to defend the rights of every Virginian.”
And with that, Bree Fram, has announced her bid for U.S. Congress.
It is a heartening, but not surprising, pivot for Bree Fram, who was forced out of the military on December 31st; after more than two decades in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force, Fram had no choice but to retire. Though consistently highly ranked and at the top of her class, Fram was told she no longer met the administration’s standard for “Military Excellence and Readiness.” Why? Trump and Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News Host named head of the Defense Department, instituted a policy to push out thousands of service members like herself. Talented and dedicated military personnel who happen to be transgender. (The same administration later clawed back the retirement and healthcare benefits promised to trans vets with 15-18 years of experience – a move currently being challenged in court).
Related: Trans Servicemembers File Lawsuit Challenging Clawback Of Their Retirement Money
Colonel Fram was devastated, but never wavered from her commitment to serving the United States – whether in uniform or not. So with a platform focused on strengthening our security, defending democracy, and protecting Virginia’s families as she had protected citizens and fellow military personnel for years: Fram set out to channel the discipline she had honed in the service to a new venture, as per this tenet of her campaign:
“I’ve managed programs where failure wasn’t an option. Lives depended on getting it right.”
Satellite and technology programs are just a few of the spaces where Fram has left a hero’s footprint. A literal rocket scientist, she led billion-dollar national security programs at the Pentagon, including critical missile warning systems. And while she’s not running an identity campaign, it should be noted that she also happened to be the highest ranking transgender member of the U.S. Department of Defense. A talented astronautical engineer and Colonel in the U.S. Space Force, she also served in a Research and Development command position and an oversight role for all Air Force security cooperation activity with Iraq. She was deployed on several tours to Iraq and Qatar as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Her assignments included testing new technologies to protect convoys from improvised explosive devices.
Her record serves as a powerful rebuttal to Trump’s proclamations – based on political whim and not fact – that the presence of transgender troops in the military is disruptive and a blight on military readiness.
Earlier this month, about 200 well-wishers assembled at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C. for a retirement farewell for five transgender service members, including Bree Fram. While the room was filled with gratitude and respect, it was a send-off with a cruel twist that the veterans neither signed up for nor deserved: being denied the right to wear their uniform.
Even so, there was no shortage of dignity and honor, intangibles which cannot be measured in brass or stripes. “In the military, humility and honor aren’t something you proclaim; they’re things you earn — through hard assignments, shared credit, absorbed blame, and a relentless focus on mission over self,” Fram has said.
It is that very dignity, along with emotional and cerebral intelligence, and yes, honor – a quality of character grossly lacking in pockets of the highest echelons of our governing bodies – that Fram brings to her Congressional run.
“In 2025, my service was abruptly ended,” she says in her campaign statement. “Not because of how I served, but because of who I am. In my final meeting at the Pentagon, after informing a room full of admirals and generals this would be my last meeting, each got up, shook my hand, and said with sadness: ‘It’s been an honor to have served with you.’ None of those people saw a transgender woman, they saw a Colonel who was there to do her job.”
“Every American deserves the right to speak, worship, love, access healthcare, and exist in public without fear… Our commitment must be to a just and pluralistic society that defends both freedom and dignity as essential to the American promise.”
Fram plans to file in the 11th District, but potential redistricting will ultimately determine her official district of residence. She and her wife are currently raising their two children in Reston, Virginia.
Image: Fram, also an author, co-edited the book, With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in Their Own Words. The collection showcases 26 personal accounts of trans individuals battling for their right to serve.
