Regan Kibby is a Midshipman in the U.S. Navy, inspired to enlist by his family’s history of military service. During his first year in the Naval Academy, he came out as transgender, meaning he was raised as a girl but now lives openly as the man he’s long known himself to be. Following President Trump’s attempted ban on open military service for transgender people, Regan joined other transgender Americans seeking to enlist in the military in a lawsuit challenging the ban.

“[This] ruins transgender servicemembers’ lives and ends the careers of trained, qualified members of our military for no reason other than who they are,” Regan said. “After a lifetime of feeling a sense of duty and preparing to serve, reading Trump’s tweets was painful, and I saw my future crumbling.”