Let us be crystal clear: patriotism is not defined by pronouns, and strength is not measured by conformity. President Trump's Executive Order titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” masquerades as a call for discipline, cohesion, and readiness—but strips away the dignity, humanity, and rights of Americans who already risk everything to serve.

This order is not about military excellence. It's about ideological exclusion. It's not about unit cohesion. It's about control. It treats a soldier's deeply held identity as a liability rather than acknowledging the lived reality of those who are just as brave, just as capable, and just as committed to defending their country.

By cloaking transphobia in the language of readiness, this executive order takes aim at transgender Americans who already serve with distinction in the Armed Forces. These individuals meet the same rigorous physical, psychological, and operational standards as anyone else. But this order rewrites the rules—not because of evidence, but because of prejudice. It codifies a narrow and punitive view of what it means to be “fit” to serve, conflating identity with instability, truth with propaganda, and patriotism with conformity.

How dare we question the valour of someone willing to stand post at 0300, deploy into combat zones, or save lives under fire—because they use a different name or live in a different gender than they were assigned at birth? To suggest that gender identity undermines integrity or humility is a stunning insult to thousands of loyal service members, past and present.

This order spits on the very values the military is sworn to uphold: unity, courage, and freedom. It turns back the clock on progress, revokes inclusion, and trades lived truth for a rigid fantasy of what American service should look like.

No one ever won a war by scapegoating their own. No one ever built morale through discrimination. And no executive order, no matter how sharply worded, will erase the courage and contribution of LGBTQ+ service members—past, present, or future.

America is strongest when it embraces all who are willing to serve—not just those who meet a political litmus test. Leadership built on exclusion is not leadership at all. It is fear. It is cruelty. And history will remember it that way.