Royal Parker grew up on a small farm in Amenia. There, he was one of two black students, bullied and assaulted throughout elementary school, before moving to a more diverse school district.

“Most of my life, I was living as a lesbian," Parker said. “[In the more diverse district], I [had] also struggled with being who I was and learning more about my culture.”

Switching schools again after facing discrimination, Parker ended up at the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics to play basketball.

“That was an amazing experience for me," said Parker. "I felt like I had the best time of my life at that school. It was great."

He says he always wanted to join the military, but after graduation, he didn’t follow through on athletic recruitments by service academies.

“I opted out not going at the time, because things were not OK to be gay or lesbian, and I knew that I was that for sure. You know, I was like, I’m not going to be able to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ " Parker said.

Parker joined the Army after the policy was eliminated under President Barack Obama and was stationed in South Korea to play professional basketball.

“I didn’t realize there was such a thing as transgender until I was 27," Parker said.

It was in the Army that Parker came out as transgender, but at that point, President Donald Trump had taken office, and Parker noticed a drastic shift in how LGBTQ soldiers were treated. He says his own commanding officer refused to let him transition to male.

“My staff sergeant – I’ll never forget his name, SSgt. Johnson – he says in front of the whole platoon, ‘I will never protect you in battle. I don’t care if you die. You mean nothing to me; your life is worthless,’” Parker said. “Like pretty much verbatim, that’s exactly what he said to me, in front of the whole platoon, and nobody said nothing.”

After leaving the Army, Parker was finally able to embrace his true gender and transition to a man. He says even after a lifetime of hate, he’s happy.

“You know, my mother has always instilled in me resiliency,” Parker said. “I lean on my faith. I lean on my family. I lean on that stuff knowing that I came from a strong line of people who have overcame so many things, and that I can, too, because they did…the people who came before me.”