After Trump’s military ban, this nonbinary 11-year Air Force veteran found a new mission at Harvard

Retired U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Parker Dubois used to have a ready answer when someone thanked them for their military service: “Thank you for your taxes.”The nonbinary veteran spent 11 years in the Air Force and taught the next generation of airmen how to lead. They canceled their wedding to deploy to Afghanistan.This Veterans Day, the familiar exchange carries a harder question. Dubois served a country whose president has declared transgender people incompatible with military service. They spent 2025 preparing others for military careers while confronting the end of their own.Now 34 and attending Harvard Kennedy School, Dubois is learning to imagine another future. But in a November 9 interview with The Advocate, they described a loss that admission to an elite university cannot simply erase: their community, their anticipated career, and their confidence that doing the job well would be enough.Related: Air Force veteran stripped of retirement under Trump's transgender purge“Every day is a little bit of a challenge waking up and not immediately putting on a uniform,” they said. Parker DuboisTeaching values while living the contradictionDubois had expected to serve for 30 years. Their work centered on becoming the kind of leader other people could depend on, and their performance earned recognition: In 2025, they were named their squadron’s noncommissioned officer of the year for 2024, they told The Advocate.President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order portrayed transgender identity as incompatible with military readiness and asserted that a gender identity inconsistent with sex conflicts with an “honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.” The administration’s stated rationale cast doubt on the character of people already serving.Dubois experienced that judgment while continuing to teach leadership.They said they could meet standards associated with their sex assigned at birth and were required to keep working throughout 2025, wit