Millions of Americans are expected to fill streets across the country Saturday in what organizers predict will be the largest mass protest in U.S. history. The No Kings demonstrations, stretching from Washington, D.C., and New York City to Los Angeles, Atlanta, and hundreds of smaller cities, will unite people alarmed by what they see as a rapid erosion of democracy under President Donald Trump’s current administration.
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Among those scheduled to speak at the main event in Washington is Shawn G. Skelly, a retired Navy commander who served as assistant secretary of defense for readiness and force management and later performed the duties of deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness in the Biden-Harris administration. She was the second transgender person ever to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Skelly, who also serves on the board of the Human Rights Campaign, will appear alongside HRC Chief of Staff Jay Brown, who is expected to focus on the link between LGBTQ+ equality and democratic integrity.
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In a conversation with The Advocate ahead of the No Kings protests, Skelly said the attacks on transgender Americans are not isolated culture war skirmishes but part of a broader strategy to weaken the nation’s institutions. “The attacks on transgender Americans are not happening in isolation,” she said. “They’re a test run for dismantling democracy itself.”
A veteran's perspective
Skelly’s 20-year Navy career and later civilian service gave her an intimate understanding of how power, policy, and politics intersect inside the Pentagon. A graduate of the University of South Carolina and the U.S. Naval War College, she served as a naval flight officer before retiring with the rank of commander. She later became the first transgender woman to hold a Senate-confirmed post in the Department of Defense, a distinction that placed her at the center of decision-making on force readiness, personnel policy, and health care for service members and their families.
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That experience, she said, informs both her understanding of how institutions function and her alarm at how quickly they can be bent to serve political goals. She spent years in rooms where policy debates hinged on evidence, process, and law — what she now describes as “guardrails of governance” that were designed to protect the military from partisan manipulation.
“I saw how those systems worked when people respected the boundaries,” Skelly said. “There was a rhythm to it — how information moved up the chain, how dissent was handled, how accountability was enforced. You can tell when that rhythm changes, when the flow of truth slows down or gets replaced by fear.”
Skelly said watching Trump’s second term unfold feels like watching those guardrails give way in real time. “I used to think talk of an American dictatorship was absurd,” she said. “Now I see it as plausible, especially when leaders condition citizens to accept incremental encroachments of power.”
To her, the shift isn’t just political; it’s institutional. “Once people inside stop pushing back, once they start convincing themselves that silence equals professionalism, that’s when you lose the republic,” she said.
A history of targeting
Skelly saw the vilification of transgender Americans in government starting during Trump’s first term, when he abruptly announced a ban on transgender military service on social media. “Thousands of little agendas of hate bloomed," she said, drawing a line from that moment to the present one, with the Pentagon enacting the policy and federal agencies attacking trans identity. "They started disappearing the word ‘transgender’ from every federal website and document," she said.
Under President Joe Biden, restrictions on trans service were reversed, and Skelly helped oversee the restoration of inclusive policies. But, she said, the far right quickly recognized the political utility of turning trans people into a rallying point. “They decided trans people would be their ‘other,’” she explained. “Now they’re exploiting the smallest, most vulnerable group to break down the norms that protect everyone.”
A personal flash point
The targeting became personal in September 2023, when Colorado U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert misgendered Skelly and mocked her identity during a House debate on a defense appropriations bill. Boebert called Skelly a “delusional man, thinking he is a woman” and introduced an amendment to cut her salary to $1. The remarks drew condemnation from Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocates nationwide.
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“When a member of Congress feels free to verbally degrade a Senate-confirmed official just for existing, the norms of respect have already cracked,” Skelly said. “It wasn’t just about me; it was about making that kind of attack acceptable.”
A 'Department of War'
Now, those same attitudes are being seen at the top of the chain of command. Recently, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host appointed by Trump, ordered all service members to watch or read his 45-minute September 30 speech delivered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. During that speech, Hegseth emphasized that the Department of Defense would be renamed the “Department of War,” and physical fitness standards would be elevated for all service members.
According to internal communications and reporting by The Advocate, the order required every active-duty, reserve, and civilian employee to view the speech by October 31 and review 23 pages of policy memoranda addressing grooming standards, gender expression, and military readiness.
“It’s historic in its authoritarian bent. When you compel hundreds of thousands of people to consume political messaging as an order, you’re conditioning obedience,” Skelly said, calling the directive “an absurd intrusion” that undermines the military’s tradition of political neutrality. “They aren’t just issuing orders; they’re normalizing political control over a force that’s meant to be apolitical."
Skelly said she believes the administration’s actions mark an accelerating effort to consolidate power, and that instead of dismissing warnings about creeping authoritarianism as melodramatic, she now sees the possibility as "dystopian and incredibly real."
“They toss around words like ‘insurrection’ and ‘terrorism’ to justify whatever they want,” she said. “They’re testing the very pillars of democracy and the rule of law.”
Why trans service matters
Skelly said the Department of Defense’s removal of transgender service members is designed to erase trans people from one of America’s most respected institutions. “You can’t drive trans people to the outer edges of society if you allow them to serve in the most respected institution in America,” she said. “If we’re good enough to wear the uniform and protect our country, then why can’t people like us vote, get health care, or teach your kids?”
That, she said, is why the administration’s effort to purge transgender troops is so central to its political project. “Allowing us to serve successfully undermines their entire argument,” she said.
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Skelly contrasted the current exclusion of trans service members with earlier moments in U.S. history when marginalized groups fought for the country even while being denied fundamental rights — citing Japanese Americans who served during World War II and the Tuskegee Airmen. “People have always served this country, even when it denied their rights,” she said, alluding to the irony of banning trans service outright. “They believed in what America could become.”
Readiness and retention
Skelly also made the point that, beyond being a human rights issue, politicizing the military and alienating LGBTQ+ individuals and their families weakens national security.
“The U.S. military needs elite athletes, yes, but it also needs cyber experts, engineers, satellite specialists,” she said, referring to Hegseth's new policies, including his demands around physical fitness standards. “When you tell people they’re fat, stupid, or disloyal, they leave. You lose the experience you need to fight and win.”
A call to resist
The No Kings protest, its name a declaration that no leader stands above the people, comes at a critical moment. For Skelly — who said her advocacy is rooted in civic duty — it is not just a rally but a test of whether citizens are willing to defend democracy itself.
“This isn’t about marching for the sake of marching; it’s about drawing a line,” she said. “They’re deciding who’s good enough to be a government servant, who’s good enough to be considered an American, and which Americans get served by their government. That’s an assault on the very idea of a government of, by, and for the people.”
After a long pause, she added quietly, “It’s not going to stop unless the American people demand it. Trans people are the canary in the coal mine, but the air is getting thin for everyone.”
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