A San Diego Navy physician has been faraway from her management function and is now underneath investigation after her social media profile caught the eye of a right-wing activist and the U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Janelle Marra, who has served on energetic responsibility within the Navy for 17 years, was the medical companies director of Expeditionary Medical Facility 150 Bravo, a Navy unit in San Diego skilled to supply medical care to help navy operations.
Her LinkedIn profile was flagged in a publish by a right-wing account on X – Libs of TikTok – on Sept. 4, calling out Marra for together with her pronouns on the web page and itemizing a job title of “Deputy Medical Director for Transgender Healthcare.”
The publish tagged Hegseth and requested him to “look into” it. By that night, Hegseth re-shared the publish with the message: “Pronouns UPDATED: She/Her/Fired.”
Whereas Marra has not formally been fired and continues to be working as a doctor at Navy Medical Middle San Diego clinics, she has been “administratively faraway from her management place for a lack of confidence in her means to guide” and is “underneath investigation for violating social media coverage,” based on a U.S. Navy official.
The Division of Protection, which President Trump has requested Congress to rename the Division of Conflict, mentioned it stands by Hegseth’s publish on X that commented on Marra’s pronouns and indicated that she can be terminated.
“The Conflict Division is just not within the enterprise of radical gender idea. We’re within the enterprise of warfighting,” Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson mentioned in an announcement. “Secretary Hegseth’s publish on X reaffirms this.”
For Marra’s household, the expertise has been surprising.
“I by no means thought that anyone so excessive in authorities can be keen to focus on particular person folks,” mentioned Marra’s spouse, Cassandra. “They’re keen to place anyone within the navy on that entrance web page and be like, ‘Get her.’”
Marra couldn’t be reached for remark whereas she’s underneath investigation.
Lively-duty service members’ social media accounts have been underneath nearer scrutiny this month. A number of members are reportedly underneath investigation or have been suspended for posts on social media essential of conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his latest assassination. Most of the posts had been publicly flagged by accounts comparable to Libs of TikTok.
Nik Ursher, a communications affiliate professor on the College of San Diego who focuses on expertise, politics and the information media, says that Libs of TikTok is akin to an “organized watchdog group,” however notes that this example isn’t new. Opposition analysis is a tactic that’s been utilized by political activists for many years.
“You comb by way of anyone’s previous and you discover issues that would discredit them, and you employ that with the intention to provide help to obtain your political objectives,” Ursher mentioned. “And the distinction now’s that that has been democratized and anyone may be a part of that.”
A Navy official confirmed that it’s “actively reviewing studies” of sailors whose social media exercise is “misaligned with the Division’s present social media steering,” however didn’t elaborate additional on what precisely the present steering entails.
Nonetheless, there’s a social media handbook for the Navy that outlines expectations for sailors’ on-line conduct. The handbook states that active-duty sailors can categorical private views about public points or political candidates utilizing social media, although they’ll’t interact in partisan political exercise, comparable to posting a hyperlink to a political occasion or marketing campaign.
Marra has spent a lot of her medical profession in San Diego. She accomplished her internship and residency in household drugs on the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton in 2011, based on the American Medical Girls’s Affiliation. She accomplished a fellowship in main care sports activities drugs on the naval hospital just a few years later.
She additionally has expertise presenting on well being take care of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood and girls, which she describes on her LinkedIn as a “focus” of her work.
“She handled me like an actual individual and never a quantity,” mentioned Parker Moore, a nuclear reactor electronics technician within the Navy and one in every of Marra’s present sufferers.
Moore has been seeing Marra as their main care physician for the previous couple of months. After 13 years of service, Moore is being separated from the Navy underneath the Trump administration’s ban on transgender service members, however says they’re not seeing Marra for transgender well being care.
“None of my medical issues are transgender associated, which a variety of suppliers relate all the things to,” Moore mentioned, including that Marra’s understanding of trans well being means she doesn’t soar to it as a conclusion for all illnesses.
Marra’s LinkedIn profile has been up to date over the previous couple of weeks. Whereas it nonetheless lists her pronouns, the profile photograph was eliminated, it not contains any management positions inside the Navy and now points a disclaimer: “This profile doesn’t symbolize the opinions of the DoD, DHA, Navy or different authorities entities.”
Marra had the function of deputy medical director for transgender well being care on her LinkedIn. But it surely’s a job that doesn’t seem to exist, not less than not anymore.
“The Division doesn’t have a transgender well being middle,” a Protection Well being Company spokesperson mentioned. “It was thought of final 12 months however the concept was deserted.”
Since taking workplace, the Trump administration has taken vital steps to roll again key protections for the LGBTQ+ neighborhood – particularly, transgender folks. Trump’s insurance policies have particularly impacted service members and veterans, together with an government order that bans transgender troops and one other that bars trans veterans from receiving gender-affirming care by way of the Division of Veterans Affairs.
Earlier this 12 months, as a part of the implementation of the manager order banning transgender troops, the U.S. Air Drive issued a memo prohibiting the usage of “most popular pronouns” in official communications – although it was shortly rescinded. A 2024 regulation prohibits the division secretary from requiring or prohibiting a member of the armed forces or civilian worker from utilizing private pronouns in official correspondence.
Marra’s spouse says their household has acquired hateful messages and skim demeaning on-line posts about them since Hegseth posted about Marra on X just a few weeks in the past. She mentioned that whereas she tries to keep away from studying them, she opinions some to evaluate for any credible threats.
It’s additionally arduous for her to ship Marra off to work every day, she mentioned, not realizing if it may be her final day on the job.
Marra is the household’s main supplier; Cassandra works part-time as an teacher at a area people school. And since each their youngsters have autism and are receiving well being care by way of Marra’s job with the Navy, Cassandra worries about what may occur if Marra in the end does lose her job within the service.
“We simply hold ready,” she mentioned. “And that’s a part of the irritating half: you sit there and also you wait.”
© 2025 The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Go to sandiegouniontribune.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.
© Copyright 2025 The San Diego Union-Tribune. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
