Emily Shilling
Emily Shilling | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 2005–2025 |
| Rank | Commander |
| Commands held | |
Commander Emily Shilling is a American fighter pilot, engineer, and advocate for LGBTQ+ people. She was the highest-ranking U.S. Navy service member who is openly transgender. In 2023, she became the Navy's first transgender person (and most senior Naval line-officer) to regain flight status following a gender transition.[1]
Shilling is the lead plaintiff in Shilling v. Trump, which challenges the 2025 ban on military service by transgender people. The Supreme Court issued an order temporarily blocking lower court decision in Shilling v. Trump, allowing the ban on trans servicemembers to be reinstated.[2] She left the Navy to avoid the risk of being involuntary discharged due to the ban.
Shilling has served in the U.S. Navy since 2005[3] As of 2024, she has accumulated over 1,700 flight hours, conducted 60 combat missions,[4] and has flown a multitude of aircraft. The majority of her flight time was spent in the EA-6B Prowler. The remainder of her time was spent flying various aircraft as part of initial flight training or as part of test pilot sorties. These aircraft include the EA-18G, FA-18E/F, F-16D, UH-60, UH-72A, HU-16, U-6A, C-12C, B-25, ASK-21, S-3B, NP-3D, SGS-233, Saab AB, LEAR, SNJ, NU-1B, T-38C, T-45 Goshawk, T-6A/B, T-34 Mentor, and the T-28 Trojan.[1] She is also known as "Hawking".[1]
In 2019, Emily Shilling came out as transgender, during which time there was a ban on transgender persons from serving in the military. This policy was established by President Donald Trump with the 2017 transgender military ban.[5] Due to this policy, she lost her flight status and the U.S. Navy started processing her out of the military.[6] However, with an executive order, President Biden reversed the ban on transgender military members in 2021.[6] This allowed her to stay in the military, and in 2023 she was cleared by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and granted a medical waiver by the Bureau of Naval Personnel for flying duty. This marked the first ever return to flight status of a transgender active-duty Naval officer, post-transition.[1] She also helped manage a drone development program.[7]
After his election in November 2024 and inauguration in January 2025, President Trump rescinded a number of President Biden's Executive Orders and signed a series of executive orders intending to remove Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, gender terminology, and banning service members who identify as transgender.[citation needed] On February 6, 2025, in response to the transgender military service ban, Emily Shilling and other plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit (Shilling v. Trump) on February 6, 2025. [8] The suit alleges that the ban violates the Equal Protection laws under the Fifth Amendment and does not serve any legitimate government purpose. [8]
Shilling left the Navy to avoid involuntary discharge, which may impact her security clearance status and consequently what work she would be authorized to do with her clearance.[7]
Advocacy
Shilling became a member of the board for Out & Equal in 2023.[9] Since 2019, she is a member of SPARTA, a non-profit advocacy group for transgender military personnel and veterans,[10] and was elected president of the organization in May 2023[11] She has participated at multiple LGBTQ+ events, including DoD Pride 2023,[12] the American Psychological Association symposium in 2024, as well as Discover Card and USAA corporate events. She has also attended Congressional hearings to address transgender policies within the Department of Defense.
Since the reinstatement of the military ban on service members who transgender on January 27, 2025,[citation needed] Shilling has been invited by multiple news outlets to provide her personal opinion on the impacts to military readiness and impacted service members. This includes interviews with CNN[13], ABC [14], PBS[15], and Reuters [16]
As an advocate for the queer community, she was awarded the 2022 Outie Award from Out & Equal.[17] During her time as President, SPARTA accepted 2024 Community Champion Award from MMAA.[18] She has also been listed in the Top 100 LGBTQ+ Executive Role Models of 2023 by YouTube,[19] the Top 50 LGBTQ+ Women and Non-binary Trailblazers of 2024 by Curve magazine,[20] and inclusion on the 2024 Out Leaders List (as part of Out in National Security).[21]
Notable speeches include Speaker for the Dead at the 2023 Naval Air Systems Command Transgender Day of Remembrance,[22] Thirty-One at 2023 DoD Pride,[23] and the Women at SciTech panel at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics's 2023 SciTech conference.[24]
Personal life
Shilling's father was a military pilot in the time of Vietnam War who then worked as a U.S. Navy doctor for two decades. Through her childhood, they moved frequently, living across the United States in Pensacola, Florida, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, and abroad in Iceland.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Winning with inclusion and respect: First transgender naval aviator regains flight status". Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.: NAVAIR. June 12, 2023. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "The Supreme Court just let Trump ban trans people from the military". 6 May 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Roeder, Kaela (12 May 2023). "Trans military advocacy organization nominates new president". Washington Blade. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
- ↑ Little, Bernard (June 20, 2024). "Walter Reed observes Pride Month". DVIDS. Archived from the original on June 27, 2024.
- ↑ "The Trump Administration's Transgender Military Ban".
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "With ban lifted, trans service members free to figure out what comes next". NBC News. 27 January 2021.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Philipps, Dave (6 June 2025). "Some Trans Troops, Facing Trump's Deadline, Opt to Stay and Fight". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Case: Shilling v. Trump".
- ↑ "In Conversation with Emily Shilling". 15 June 2023.
- ↑ https://spartapride.org/
- ↑ "SPARTA Announces Election of New President". May 2023.
- ↑ "SECNAV and CDR Shilling". NAVAIR. Archived from the original on January 31, 2025.
- ↑ "Transgender Navy Commander Reacts to Trump's Ban on Trans Service Members". CNN. January 29, 2025.
- ↑ "Trump signs Executive Order to Reverse Transgender Troops Policy". ABC. January 29, 2025.
- ↑ "'I want to keep serving': Navy Commander Fights Trump's Trans Military Ban". PBS. February 19, 2025.
- ↑ "How Transgender Troops Prepared to Fight Trump's New Policy". Reuters. January 29, 2025.
- ↑ "The Outie Awards".
- ↑ "Award Nomination".
- ↑ https://outstanding.involverolemodels.org/
- ↑ "Curve Power List: 50 LGBTQ+ Women and Nonbinary Trailblazers". 19 April 2024.
- ↑ "2024 LGBTQIA+ Out in National Security Leadership and New Voices List".
- ↑ "NAVAIR TDOR 2023 – Speaker for the Dead – Arroway Ltd".
- ↑ "Thirty-One: 2023 DoD Pride Speech – Arroway Ltd".
- ↑ "AIAA SciTech 2023 Women at SciTech Panel and Social Hour Leadership, Innovation, and Intersection". 21 February 2023 – via YouTube.
Further reading
- https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/09/trans-military-commander-confronts-trumps-ban-00339091
- https://www.politico.com/newsletters/women-rule/2025/05/09/the-trans-service-member-suing-the-trump-administration-00337794
- https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/trans-service-members-say-want-fight-country-not-jobs-rcna189893
- https://glaad.org/transgender-military-service-member-i-am-proof-that-we-are-qualified-to-serve/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/us/transgender-military-ban-trump-hegseth.html
- https://www.aiaa.org/detail/person/cdr-emily-hawking-shilling-usn
- https://www.thirteen.org/programs/pbs-newshour/trans-in-the-military-1740002628/
- https://lambdalegal.org/newsroom/shilling_us_20240202_ll-hrc-file-lawsuit-to-block-trump-admin-trans-military-service-ban/
- https://abcnews.go.com/US/transgender-navy-pilot-barred-service-reflects-patriotism-ahead/story?id=122777463
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