At 35, Lieutenant Rae Timberlake has spent just over half their life in the United States Navy. Now theyre wrapping up their career due to the presidents second transgender military ban. When Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gleefully cheerleaded the ejection of trans servicemembers, he characterized it as no more dudes in dresses.After giving 18 years of their life and defining a part of their identity through service to their country, Timberlake is now being forced out by an administration that doesnt even acknowledge their identity in its hateful speeches. Related Ive seen political tension between trans men & feminist lesbians change over the last 5 decades Timberlake, who is the Communications Director for the non-profit SPARTA Pride, is obviously angry about the bans effect on all trans people who serve. But the effect on the rarely-mentioned trans masc servicemembers is a particular point of frustration.I honestly think its weird because the military is one of the safest places for women that are masc or want to present more masc because its a very masculine environment. So I think if you are masc-presenting or trans-masculine, people are generally more accepting of that. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today While trans people have become a hot political topic, not every identity is discussed in equal measure. We hear concerns about trans women in bathrooms and uproar over trans girls playing sports, but the presence of trans men in the conversation is often only notable by its absence.Harper Seldin, a Staff Attorney at the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project, explained how the discussion of trans rights often carefully attacks trans femme identities while ignoring trans men and boys. With the way that the anti-trans coalition frames the issue of medical care for transgender minors, even that framing truly erases trans men.This absence is clear on both sides of the aisle. While were eager to talk about how a trans woman threw the first brick at Stonewall and expound on the forgotten history of trans women in the early 1900s, trans men tend to be less discussed.Jamison Green has been living openly as a trans man since the 1980s. Along with his extensive activism over the last forty years, Green wrote Becoming a Visible Man in 2004, which explores masculinity and overlooked stories of trans men. This year, he co-edited A History of Transgender Medicine in the United States. Green recalls that when he was doing public speaking and trainings in the 90s, people had a very set idea of what a trans person might be, and it wasnt a trans man. Theyd be disappointed because they were expecting a transsexual, who they think is a man in a dress, he said.Green has seen the effects of this way of thinking over and over, whether it comes in the form of people being blown away that someone who was assigned female at birth could look like him, or by the way that some people see all trans men as interchangeable and regularly mistake him for his contemporaries, such as Stephen Whittle or Loren Cameron.Why anti-trans groups ignore trans menTrans people have become a political punching bag for much the same reason that immigrants have: Were easy targets. As Timberlake points out, Its still more socially acceptable to paint [trans people] as other or bad, whereas conventional racism and colorism is less palatable in the mainstream. Its clearly a winning issue.While thats proven to be a winning strategy overall, it relies on a focus on trans women. Green, Seldin, and Timberlake all agree that theres a root cause behind both the attacks and the erasure: misogyny.If theres nothing particularly biologically innate about being a man, theres nothing particularly supreme about being a man Trans men reveal sort of the artifice behind this idea of male supremacy.Harper Seldin, Staff Attorney at the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV ProjectHowever, in each of their theories, that misogyny takes a different form. For Timberlake, its about how fragile masculinity makes trans women a simpler target. The worst insult to a man is that hes not a man, muses Timberlake. So its really easy to identify trans women as a bad thing, or a boogeyman. I think its all rooted in misogyny, and trans men, trans masculine people dont fit that narrative.For Green, misogyny fuels dismissal: Of course women want to be men. Because who cares what women do? Theyll never be real men anyway, so theres no threat.Seldin goes a step further, seeing the anti-trans movements response to trans women vs trans men as representative of trying to uphold the patriarchy. Trans women can be seen as challenging the patriarchy because theyre perceived as giving up manhood, which doesnt make sense in a framework of male supremacy. To avoid acknowledging that idea, trans women are demonized as predators, deviants, and a threat to women. But for trans men, the idea of becoming men would be desirable under a patriarchal model, but Seldin points out the ability to do so would weaken that very framework: If theres nothing particularly biologically innate about being a man, theres nothing particularly supreme about being a man Trans men reveal sort of the artifice behind this idea of male supremacy.The only way to combat that issue is to either lean into Greens point that the patriarchy doesnt see trans men as real men, or to try to ignore their existence. The anti-trans lobby is very keen to keep the conversation on trans women, where they can stoke outrage rather than acknowledging trans men and face difficult questions about a societal system built on the idea of male supremacy.Seldin points out that we know this is, at least in part, a deliberate choice. Theres documentation in Project 2025 promoting a focus specifically on trans women in bathrooms and sports to push fear and anger, and weve seen that procedural shift from politicians after marriage equality was passed. Why trans advocates ignore trans menPart of what makes the erasure of trans men from these political conversations possible is how plainly some of the arguments made against trans women would fall apart if applied to trans men. This is particularly true with the trans military ban. The administration suggested that trans people affect military readiness by not being fit for duty, taking excessive medical leave, forcing people to think about pronouns, and costing taxpayers a significantly larger amount than other service members because of their medical bills.None of these arguments withstands any real scrutiny. The cost is relatively low for gender-affirming care compared to other medical needs service members might have. Medical leave for gender-affirming surgeries can be planned and is comparable to many other surgeries. All service members are required to pass regular fitness tests to remain in service. And pronouns are just part of the English language. Related Masculinity is crippling society. Could trans men be the key to changing that? But the idea that someone would become a worse soldier because they were trans masc and taking hormones is bizarre, and if that was brought up more often, the public would probably see through it.Timberlake explains: As somebody whos been on T for like four years now, my run times are better. My physical performance is better I just dont think that theres a valid argument that being on testosterone makes me less capable. But despite that, there are arguments for why politicians who are generally trans allies might not raise the topic of trans men.For Seldin, it comes down to the fact that the issue with anti-trans hate isnt its lack of comprehensive attacks across the board. Rather, it is the fact that it comes from an uninformed or bigoted place to begin with.The existence of trans men is not a rejoinder to any particular anti-trans narrative. The true rejoinder to the anti-trans narrative is that gender is complicated and life is a rich tapestry and that gender expression doesnt take anything away from anybody else. And that in seeking to make trans peoples lives smaller and shackled to sex assigned to birth, it actually makes everyones life smaller because of what it means about reifying gender roles in a way thats tied specifically to biology. Green, on the other hand, suggests that it comes down to a lack of visibility and understanding for who trans men are. Related Conservatives want to separate trans & reproductive rights. Trans men are uniting the movements. I think there are lots of trans men who are trying to be visible, and I think people dont give a sh*t I think probably part of it is that the politicians dont really understand trans people They dont know how to make an argument about the medical necessity of our healthcare. I just dont think they have a grasp on what kinds of discrimination we actually face and what kinds of institutionalized systematic oppression we have endured for forever. Why it is critical to talk about trans men moreBoth Seldin and Green noted that there are some benefits to the lack of attention, particularly for those who have passing privilege. One of the few times that trans men come up in more mainstream discourse is in memes of muscly bearded trans men in restrooms, highlighting the absurdity of them being told to use the womens room.Green recounted anecdotes of regularly going to public meetings in San Francisco and people questioning why no trans men were attending. All of that shows how trans men can fly under the radar at times, and, combined with anti-trans groups painting a smaller target on them, it is a small plus. I just dont think they have a grasp on what kinds of discrimination we actually face and what kinds of institutionalized systematic oppression we have endured for forever.Jamison Green, writer and activistBut Green is quick to point out that its not as simple as that: We are often very invisible. And thats a double-edged sword. Its a blessing and a curse. Our needs go unaddressed. Trans men are often particularly lonely. There are advantages to being able to just move through society, but to be invisible [means] that no one knows how to meet our needs.Seldin pointed to evidence that while theres the benefit of not being directly attacked as often, trans men are still affected by legislation and sentiments built by anti-trans rhetoric. Rules driven by those demonizing trans women prevent all trans people from accessing services. Trans boys and men are still losing access to healthcare, school sports, and more.Beyond that, Seldin worries about the lack of attention given to healthcare for trans men: Less visibility means less pressure to provide better resources.Healthcare for trans men is under-researched and under-invested in. As trans men, it can be difficult to access the kind of healthcare that we need because spaces that cater to people with uteruses may not be particularly welcoming. So that can also be difficult, to connect trans men with appropriate healthcare resources, not just in the context of reproductive healthcare, but any kind of healthcare.Worrying about healthcare access is part of what moved Green to be so vocal in his activism. He recounts the story of Billy Tipton, a trans man and jazz singer who kept his gender identity a secret from his family for his entire life. Tipton eventually became ill and avoided going to a doctor for fear that this secret would be revealed. He passed away from a treatable illness. If people dont know who we are, were never going to be safe. They will never know how to take care of our needs when we are elderly, infirm, vulnerable in any way.These thoughts drove Green to work to make trans men more visible, but his peers feared the other edge of that sword. They asked him not to do that work, saying, If they find out about us, theyll take everything away from us.But Green has remained resolute: I think if people understand our bodies and who we are, well be safer in the world.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.