An expert on military readiness is scolding two senators who want to continue Barack Obama’s promotion of gender dysphoria in the ranks, contending it hurts the nation’s military readiness.
Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, an independent public policy group that analyzes social issues in the military, was responding to a move this week by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, to try to force the military to keep and even recruit persons suffering from the condition.
“Gender dysphoria is one of several psychological conditions, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, chronic air- or sea-sickness, or claustrophobia, which affect personal readiness to deploy,” Donnelly explained.
She said transgenders “can serve our country in many ways, but prolonged absences associated with expensive, gender-denying ‘transition plans,’ hormone therapies, and surgeries make them one of many groups that do not meet military qualification requirements.”
Donnelly said it’s “regrettable that two senators who have consistently demanded social experiments in the military, while disavowing negative consequences of their own misguided policy demands, would try to cut off at the knees both Secretary of Defense James Mattis and President Donald Trump on an important national defense issue: transgenders in the military.”
“Senator Gillibrand keeps raising alarms about increased sexual assaults in the military, which are of concern to everyone. But she cares nothing about military women living in close-quarters who are being forced to accept biological males in female-designated showers and private facilities. Nor do the senators care about doctors and nurses being forced to approve or participate in treatments that many consider contrary to medical ethics or personal convictions.”
She said taking a “ready, fire, aim” and “don’t confuse us with the facts” approach, Collins and Gillibrand demand that Secretary Mattis “produce a report that fits their expectations, even before confirmation of the official nominated to head the Pentagon office designated to handle the issue.”
“The senators’ amendment implies that the military is nothing more than an equal opportunity (EO) employer. On the contrary, there is no constitutional right to serve in the military. The armed forces exist to defend the country, and being ‘qualified’ for military service involves more than personal desire or physical strength,” she said.
The two senators introduced an amendment to prohibit the Defense Department from dismissing transgenders “solely on the basis of the member’s gender identity,” Donnelly explained.
Gillibrand claimed that any individual “who wants to join our military and meets the standards should be allowed to serve, period.”
“Gender identity should have nothing to do with it,” she said.
Just last month, Trump reversed Obama’s 2016 directive allowing those suffering from gender dysphoria not only to serve in the military but to be recruited.
Mattis has said he is working on how to implement the president’s change in policy.
“It seems that the senators want to rely on Obama holdovers and misinformation produced in consultation with LGBT activist groups, including the often-quoted 2016 RAND Report. CMR has prepared a two-page CMR Summary citing several reasons why this pre-determined polemic (not a ‘study’) cannot be considered a credible source for understanding negative effects of Obama-era policies,” Donnelly said.
She explained that, according to leading experts, human “sex change” is biologically impossible. Gender is identified at birth, not assigned, and every person’s gender-determining DNA chromosomes exist in every cell of his or her body.
Last month, the ACLU announced it was suing the government over Trump’s decision, which would keep only those most qualified for the military in the ranks.
When the president announced his policy, left-wing leaders denigrated him as disgusting, stupid, un-American, cruel and worse.
In a series of tweets, the president stated:
After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.
Trump’s directive amounted to the complete reversal of an Obama-era policy, announced in June 2016 by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter, that transgender people would be allowed to openly serve in the armed forces.
Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., tweeted, “Trump makes our military weaker by arbitrarily kicking out high-performing soldiers based solely on gender identity.”
But Polis didn’t address the financial issues raised by Donnelly, including absences, transition plans, hormone therapies and surgeries. Nor did he address the implications of a biological male who “identifies” as a woman sharing showers with biological females.
The country’s most notorious transgender ex-soldier weighed in as well. Chelsea Manning, who was sentenced to prison after leaking thousands of top-secret government documents to WikiLeaks, tweeted that Trump’s move “sounds like cowardice.”
But Dr. James Dobson, the celebrated psychologist, Christian leader, author and radio host, released a statement commending Trump for reversing the damage Obama had done to the military.
“For eight years, the Department of Defense under President Obama went about the systematic and intentional transformation of the U.S. military, unnecessarily disrupting the world’s most elite fighting force from their most pressing and urgent requirement – keeping our country and its allies safe,” Dobson stated.
“It is heartening to have a commander-in-chief who puts the expert opinions of his generals and military officials ahead of the destructive forces of political correctness and identity politics. I support the president’s decision and commend this administration for having the courage to protect our military from what would only amount to an enormous and costly distraction.”
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, released a statement similarly lauding Trump for rolling back Obama-era social priorities.
“I applaud President Trump for keeping his promise to return to military priorities – and not continue the social experimentation of the Obama era that has crippled our nation’s military,” Perkins stated. “The military can now focus its efforts on preparing to fight and win wars rather than being used to advance the Obama social agenda.
“President Trump recognizes what the nation’s military leadership and the American people realize, this Obama policy makes no sense.
“The last thing we should be doing is diverting billions of dollars from mission-critical training to something as controversial as gender reassignment surgery. However, the cost to readiness, recruitment, retention, morale and cohesion would have been even greater under the Obama policy. As our nation faces serious national security threats, our troops shouldn’t be forced to endure hours of transgender ‘sensitivity’ classes and politically-correct distractions like this one.”
