Ben Carson calls transgender military members a distraction. How do you feel about this?

If you don't want to debate transgenders, then why start a topic about it? Just seems like you are trying to create an argument. I also see nothing in his statement that would be considered "bliind hate". He has a right to his opinion, as does everyone else. If you don't like or agree with his opinion, don't vote for him. It's that simple. You aren't helping anything by attacking him and those who support his opinion. The perception I'm getting from you is more along the lines of 'hate' then anything Dr. Carson has said.

I don't believe transgendered military members themselves are a distraction to the military, they have been serving for quite some time now, but I do believe the topic itself as it pertains to the military, is a distraction. Kind of like the "women serving in a combat zone" topic. The fact that women are serving in combat zones isn't a distraction as they have been doing it forever, but the topic itself, as it pertains to the military, is, and as long as we have the media and a lack of education, it will continue to be a distraction... As far as what Dr Ben Carson meant? I haven't the foggiest, and I agree, he's definitely not POTUS material...

It used tone about serving your country. Now it is who you want to sleep with and who you want to dress up like.

Is there any reason I would care about his opinion on anything

He speaks his mind and I like that.

1. I don't care if they do their job. 2. What if they decide mid stream they are trans-gender- what do you do with them ( now not a big deal). But if they want the shots and the sex change- then they are non-deployable, on sick call and not worth much to the unit. I remember when the CG during cutbacks went through every gym and skate job and drug back all the NCO's he could find, which was a lot. Also, where do you house them- same billets, different floor?

Silly Dr. Carson....keep you private life private...

It kills me when anti-LGBT people throw out the "flaunting" card. It's so stupid. If a hetero has a photo of his significant other on their desk at work, it's called a symbol of affection. If a LGBT person does the same thing, it's called flaunting. Same with the routine things any hetero couple does--a kiss goodbye if you are getting dropped off at work; holding hands in the shopping mall (not in uniform); or anything at all that shows you care about your significant other. They call that affection for heteros and flaunting for LGBTs. But what they really mean when they say that is that we wish you didn't exist and we don't want to ever have to be exposed to you. I wish those types of people wouldn't flaunt their ignorance and bigotry so much in public. It's very distracting.

I am an openly transgender service member on active duty. I live genuinely full time. Ben Carson is absolutely correct. Wait, wait. Let me elaborate. Transgender service members themselves will not be a distraction. We are people and service members like anyone else. Our goal is to live an authentic life and do our jobs with pride. There is nothing distracting about that. I don't need special standards. I simply need the already existing standards of my gender. And the transition process does not require special treatment, just a mini,al standard of medical care which does not impede me from doing my job.
So where is the distraction? Bigotry. When me minding my own business causes coworkers to go out of their way to be rude. When people venture outside of their lives to discriminate against me. When I am made the target of a political agenda or when a persons beliefs extend outside of how they live their life and infringe upon how I live mine. This is distracting. This takes away from good order and discipline. This affects morale. Me, Patricia king, adhering to female standards, taking a pill every morning, and occasionally going pee does not affect my or anyone else's ability to defend our country. Shoot, we don't even need special classes. We already have EO. All we need is for competent leaders to follow the values of their branch and expect subordinates to act like professionals. It's an election year. And none of our politicians will pass an opportunity to make me more than a person. To make me a political issue. To influence votes.
I get it. Maybe you don't agree with who I am. I'm not asking you to be trans. You can't because it isn't a choice. I'm simply asking you to respect who I am. You think I'm going to hell. Ok, I don't. And since we live in a country with freedom to practice our own religion then I suppose we are both ok.
Folks, do your job. Don't stare, don't make comments, simply treat me with the respect I deserve as a soldier and a person. And I promise that a year after open trans service we will all wonder what the big deal was about.

I was actually at this event in Waterloo when he said this. In fact when I first read the question, I thought that is exactly what I just heard him say. This was an event sponsored by the Concerned Veterans of America and was a Town Hall meeting. The audience was primarily former military and by the comments I heard, mostly conservative. So he was addressing a fairly partisan group. I forget the actual question that came up but it was his response to that. Do I agree with him? Yes. It will cause issues as the military integrates transgenders into units. There are questions that need to be addressed. We can start with how do you accommodate them with facilities and then follow with what PT standard do they use. These things will be distractions as he mentioned.