Col (Ret) Space Force • Rocket Scientist • Author • Speaker
Biography
Bree Fram is an astronautical engineer, public policy expert, author, speaker, former Congressional candidate, and retired U.S. Space Force colonel. She was forced to retire from the military in 2025 due to Trump administration policy regarding transgender people. She turned that moment into a 2026 run for Congress in Virginia, putting service and character at the center of her campaign.
Bree came out publicly as transgender on the day the transgender ban in the military was dropped in 2016. At her dismissal, she was the highest ranking out transgender officer in the military and she was the first, and only, out transgender officer selected for and promoted to the grade of O-6.
Prior to recommissioning into the Space Force in 2021, Bree served 18 years in a wide variety of Air Force positions including a Research and Development command position and an oversight role for all Air Force security cooperation activity with Iraq. In earlier assignments, Bree served in the Air Force Directorate of Strategic Plans, as a Legislative Fellow at the US Capitol on the staff of Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, as a program manager for satellite and technology programs, and deployed to Qatar and Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In her final assignment she was stationed at the Pentagon where she built the first Space Force acquisition policy and then led requirements development for future capabilities.
Bree has appeared on national and international media, including ABC and NBC Nightly news, MSNOW, France 24, BBC, PBS News Hour, and NPR. Her writing has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Defense One, Military Times, Inkstick, and LGBTQ Nation.
Bree is an editor of With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in Their Own Words and its sequel With Valor and Visibility: The Next Chapter of Transgender Military Service. She is also an author of Forging Queer Leaders: How the LGBTQIA+ Community Creates Impact from Adversity.
Bree created the Forged in Fire LGBTQ+ Leadership Podcast and was the executive producer andco-host from 2022 to 2025.
Bree's volunteer work includes supporting the Brooke Owens Fellowship as an executive mentor, co-leading the Department of the Air Force LGBTQ+ Initiatives Team from 2023-2025, and as a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Diversity Working Group from 2019-2023 to increase diverse representation in STEM and aerospace.
She also served in leadership roles at SPARTA, a non-profit that advocates and educates about transgender military service, from 2015-2023, culminating as President and Board Chair. Her work for SPARTA focused on national-level policy and advocacy to develop a more inclusive military.
Bree has been married for more than 20 years to Peg Fram and they have two children. They live in Reston, VA.
Education
MA, National Security and Strategic Studies, Naval War College, 2021
Graduate Certificate in Leadership and Ethics, Naval War College, 2021
MS, Astronautical Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology, 2007
Graduate Certificate in Systems Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology, 2007
BS, Aerospace Engineering, University of Minnesota, 2001
What I Believe
What am I passionate about? Space, Service, Democracy, and Building Inclusive Cultures.
Putting Beliefs into Action - My Campaign
My campaign began in January 2026 and ran until the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the new congressional maps approved by voters in May.
These articles do an excellent job describing my launch and withdrawal.
To learn more about what I stood for, visit my campaign website.