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

This story originally appeared on The Advocate. 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.

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