While transgender members of the U.S. military wait on tinder hooks for the courts to rule on President Donald Trump’s order to expel them, Col. Bree Fram of the Space Force refuses to give up her frontline post. The courageous trans soldier, a descendant of a family with a history of valiant service, shares her story. Note: Fram spoke in her personal capacity and her views do not necessarily reflect those of the Defense Department or the United States Government. (interviewed by David Hunt).
And in NewsWrap: thousands of Hungarians hit the streets of Budapest in protest after Parliament passes a ban on LGBTQ Pride marches, a pause in the Trump administration’s plan to expel all transgender service members remains in effect as the war rages in the courtroom, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is phasing out treatment for gender dysphoria, shareholders of the Walt Disney Company vote against a proposal to eliminate DEI policies, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Sarah Montague and John Dyer V (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the March 24, 2025 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of March 24, 2025
Thank You For Trans Service, Col. Fram
NewsWrap (full transcript below): Thousands of Hungarians hit the streets of Budapest to protest autocratic President Viktor Orban’s newly-enacted law that bans LGBTQ Pride celebrations in the capital city and across the country [with brief on-scene audio from the Budapest protests] … an openly-lesbian U.S. federal judge butts heads with attorneys for the Trump administration for failing to provide actual evidence to support its proposed ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military … another lawsuit challenges a U.S. Veterans Administration announcement that it is ending gender-affirming healthcare for transgender veterans … yet another lawsuit fights Trump efforts to move transgender women prisoners to male facilities … bucking the trend of major corporations buckling under far-right threats, Walt Disney Company shareholders overwhelmingly reject a proposal to end the giant conglomerate’s initiatives that advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace and in corporate culture (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, reported this week by JOHN DYER V and SARAH MONTAGUE).
Feature: Transgender members of the U.S. military are on tinder hooks waiting for the courts to rule on President Donald Trump’s order to expel them. The Pentagon’s original deadline for their voluntary resignations is running neck and neck with a federal judge’s next hearing on the matter. The judicial battle will rage on, perhaps all the way to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, a courageous trans soldier with a family history of valiant service refuses to leave her frontline post. Col. Bree Fram shared her story with This Way Out’s DAVID HUNT (with music from the U.S. Space Force anthem Semper Supra and by JOY HANNA and MICHAEL SHYNES).
[PLEASE NOTE: Fram spoke in her personal capacity and her views do not necessarily reflect those of the Defense Department or the United States Government.]
[relevant links:
Bree Fram personal website https://www.breefram.com/
Forged in Fire podcast https://www.forgedinfire.org/
SPARTA: Transgender advocacy organization https://spartapride.org/]
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting
global LGBTQ communities
for the week ending March 24th 2025
Written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle,
reported this week by JOHN DYER V & SARAH MONTAGUE
and produced by Brian DeShazor
[on-scene chants audio faded]
Thousands of Hungarians hit the streets of Budapest chanting “The people demand their rights” after Parliament passed a ban on LGBTQ Pride marches. Opposition lawmakers set off rainbow flares in the chamber and distributed photoshopped images of autocratic President Viktor Orban kissing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Orban backed the bill, an extension of Hungary’s 2021 Child Protection Law. His 15-year reign as Prime Minister has been marked by anti-LGBTQ animus. Orban celebrated the March 18th passage of the Pride ban tweeting, “We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids.”
Protestors blocked traffic on Budapest’s iconic Erzsebet Bridge with signs reading, “The first Pride was a riot” and “If you take our human rights, be ready for human wrongs.”
The European Union was quick to condemn the repressive law. E.U. Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib’s tweet proclaimed, “Our Union is one of freedom & equality. Everyone should be able to be who they are, live & love freely. The right to gather peacefully is a fundamental right to be championed across the European Union. We stand with the LGBTQI community - in Hungary & in all Member States.”
Orban and the E.U. have been in contention for more than a decade. The country’s anti-queer laws have led to billions in E.U. financial aid being frozen.
Budapest Pride organizers are defiant and promise to march as planned on June 28th. Under the new law, each of them and all attendees can be targeted using facial recognition and fined up to 200,000 forints, about $550 U.S. Last year more than 30,000 people joined the event, and this year could be even bigger. Jojó Majercsik of Budapest Pride told the Associated Press, “We’ve received many messages and comments from people saying: ‘Until now I haven’t gone to Pride, I didn’t care about it but this year I’ll be there, and I’ll bring my family’.”
Security forces and riot police may have their hands full.
A court-ordered pause in the Trump administration’s plan to expel all transgender service members will remain in effect after a heated battle late in the day on March 21st. Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had granted the government’s emergency request that morning to review her temporary injunction against the ban.
The federal district court’s first openly lesbian judge has repeatedly pressed the Trump lawyers to provide specific proof of their claims. They argue that trans service members are disruptive and impair troops’ ability to carry out their missions but still have no data to satisfy Reyes’ concerns. Their latest claim is that the ban only affects enlistees with gender dysphoria, the medical condition that transgender people experience when their gender identity and gender presentation are incongruent. Reyes questioned how it differs from any other treatable condition that does not preclude military service. She told beleaguered Trump lawyer Jean Lin, “You’re still excluding people who identify as transgender by focusing on those with gender dysphoria. The policy’s impact is the same. This is still a ban on transgender service members.”
Reyes went on to slam at length what she sees as the government’s hypocritical presentation of the issue. In her words, “I am not going to abide by government officials saying one thing to the public -- saying what they really mean to the public — and then coming in here to the court and telling me something different like I'm an idiot. I am not an idiot. This court is not going to be gaslit. The Secretary of Defense called it a transgender ban. This idea that you all can just come in here and pretend or have us pretend that what’s happening is not actually what's happening is totally unacceptable. Everyone knows what the ban is intended to do. Everyone knows.”
Judge Reyes has now extended the stay on the injunction pending further submissions on the morning of March 28th by both the plaintiffs and the government. Thus, the Pentagon’s previously announced March 26th deadline for trans enlistees to voluntarily resign is on hold. Reyes also specified that if any transgender service member is negatively affected before the stay is lifted, she would expeditiously consider their request for a temporary restraining order.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is phasing out treatment for gender dysphoria. The VA announced on March 17th that hormone replacement therapy and related healthcare for trans patients not already in treatment would be discontinued. The VA does not provide gender-affirming surgeries but has until now granted letters in support of veterans seeking them.
President Donald Trump’s executive order Defending Women is the justification given for the withdrawal of care. VA Secretary Doug Collins demonstrated his sensitivity to the issue by telling reporters, “I mean no disrespect to anyone, but VA should not be focused on helping veterans attempt to change their sex. The vast majority of veterans and Americans agree, and that is why this is the right decision.”
Several veteran organizations don’t agree, including Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Their statement called it “the ultimate betrayal of those who’ve served and sacrificed so much for our country.”
Meanwhile, several transgender prisoners are suing the Trump administration over the withdrawal of their gender-affirming healthcare – this according to reports in Mother Jones. The ACLU asked a federal judge on March 17th to issue a temporary injunction allowing treatment to proceed while the legal challenge continues. At least one other lawsuit is challenging attempts by the Trump administration to move trans female inmates to men’s prisons.
Finally, shareholders of the Walt Disney Company want nothing to do with a rightwing push to “move back to [the political] neutral.” A proposal submitted by the rightwing think tank National Center for Public Policy Research demanded Disney’s withdrawal from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. It also called for ending the company’s efforts to protect all employees from discrimination, offer equal benefits, and encourage an inclusive culture. The company’s Board of Directors recommended a “no” vote, noting that the proposal would not “provide additional value to shareholders,” as the Center claimed. Barely 1 percent of Disney shareholders opposed the Board’s recommendation at their March 20th investors meeting.
To Eric Bloem, the Disney vote “gives us a clear statement of values from Disney’s shareholders.” Bloem is the vice president of corporate citizenship at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. He said, “Despite the growing politicization of DEI and workplace inclusion, leading global businesses remain committed to the belief that a welcoming, inclusive environment drives innovation, boosts productivity, and strengthens the bottom line.”
More than 765 companies participate in HRC’s Corporate Equality Index despite an organized online campaign in recent months to force them to abandon their workplace policies and programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. DEI initiatives have been quashed at several major corporations in response to boycott threats by rightwing influencer Robby Starbuck. His victims have included Amazon, Google, Ford Motor Company, Harley Davidson, Target, Walmart, Microsoft, Meta and Zoom.
Disney has scored a perfect 100 percent in the Corporate Equality Index annually since 2007. Its shareholders now join Costco and Apple investors in resisting pressure from Starbuck and his internet trolls to dump so-called “woke” policies.
However, some critics say that Disney’s product may not be keeping up with its shareholders commitment. They point to the axing of a transgender subplot in the Disney Pixar animated TV mini-series Win or Lose and the disappearance of Agent Pleakley’s drag disguises in the live-action version of Lilo & Stitch.