Transgender Service Members: Serving in Silence

I see a lot of personal opinions and views on transgenders as a whole. One's personal view on if it is right, wrong, good, or bad is invalid. What matters is how it will impact the DoD, unit morale and discipline, and the war fighter on the ground. I would encourage people to look up Kristen Beck who retired with over 20 years of service in units including Seal Team 6 / DEVGRU. I don't see anyone who has a negative "personal" opinion on a transgenders lifestyle being on par with this guy who was a tier 1 operator. Until then as long as the afore mentioned is not degraded or compromised at all then I say why not?

I have been pondering this complex topic for a while. I have mixed feelings that I will try to sort out with you. I feel the tension that exists between my education in natural philosophy, nursing, and social work on one hand, and experience of being a soldier, a husband, and a father on the other. I do not wish to take sides, but wish to thoughtfully explore what is. I encourage your respectful feedback. I will strive to do the same.

I don't know that the American Psychiatric Association (APA), or American Medical Association is qualified to be the font of truth and wisdom. However, they do like to play God. =) Their decisions are often times very political, as are those that are arrived at while making sausage on Capitol Hill. The APA and the AMA certainly have market share to be gained in creating a special category of people and then being the only ones who can successfully manage the biological aspects of their care.

Having worked with young male sex offenders who were given estrogen to control their urge to sexually act out, I witnessed first hand that those who chose this treatment quickly developed bone densities equivalent to those of senior citizens. I do not think that hormone treatments for service members is a good idea for this reason. I am not sure that the military is a good place to begin this experiment, given the high stakes, and demanding lifestyle.

Alternatively, a number of gender assignment surgeries are performed on newborn children. There is a statistically significant number of children that are born and not clearly being male or female. If a decision is poorly made by helping professionals for the child, should the child be punished for this when they grow up and want to serve in the military? Would you want this for your children?

I don't like the terms straight, gay, transgender, etc. I believe them to be objectifying terms. They label people and put them in a category that stifles maturation, spiritual growth, personal exploration and responsibility. I am not interested in creating yet another hyphenated American minority group that seeks entitlements, and adds to the further decay of the fabric of American society.

Should transgendered personnel be allowed to serve in military, an unintended consequence of such a policy change may be a siphoning of resources away from the children in families that need them. When I was a married, lower enlisted soldier, and father; sergeants with families qualified for food stamps. My wife was yelled at when we tried to get financial help from an agency that I believe was called Army Community Services (ACS). What I am trying to say is that resources for service members and their families are limited. Creating another group of people to compete for these already scant resources may not be in the best interest of the children of service members.

I know of a number of transgendered people that already have kids. Would allowing potential transgendered service members into the military create families, couples, or another variation of single life?

I sense that people are afraid of another group of potential service members not being able to control sexually compulsive behavior. If service members are able to act professionally, respectfully and not compulsively, then I say let them serve. However, those who identify as being transgendered should also know that the maximum penalty for rape under UCMJ is the death penalty. This information should also be given to all other service members as well, so as to not single out any particular group.

Ultimately the decision of whether or not to have transgendered service members in the military is a decision for Capitol Hill and the POTUS. As service members we faithfully execute the orders that are handed down, and support our fellow service members in doing so.

What are your thoughts?

At the risk of offending a few I didn't know there were any, outside those who are good at hiding it. Secondly, it is not my business unless there are quotas for certain groups and then forcing others to accept. I think if you mean acceptance to be acquiescing to being respectful, I am good with that.

I know for a fact there are some troops that do not like African Americans and while distasteful and stupid, I have to accept that they (racists) are there. This thing about respect and acceptance is in time feelings tend to change but virtue of nothing else than knowing people and who they are.

But for any abuse of any person within certain limits (abusers of any kind) is always unacceptable. Even PDAs among heterosexuals is rude when done to excess and I hope these new ideas are not exploited. In the service we need unity and cohesiveness rather than politically correct dictates that emanate from LGBT groups and their ilk. Ilk is not a disparaging comment.

First I want to say that if there are that many transgendered soldiers serving in silence then someone is not doing their job correctly. Does anyone here remember their MEPS experience? I do. How is it possible to present your birth certificate and then go through MEPS without that being discovered? Next I would lie to say that the military in general tends to hold in morals. What part of being transgendered is morally ok? call me old fashioned but I believe that it's wrong. Put morals aside, if transgendered soldiers were allowed to be openly transgendered I believe that it may be a difficult adjustment for a good number of other soldiers in the same unit ultimately affecting overall unit readiness and unit cohesion. Especially the ones required to live in close quarters with said individual. Then the Army would have to institute new regulations for latrines, policy's for room assignments in the barracks, possibly MOS restrictions based on gender, etc. Why should the Army have to endure so much change just to make a small group of people happy by being what that small group considers to politically correct? The military should continue to maintain a high standard and worry about things more important than some peoples feelings.

I have lived in one of Texas' most pro-gay big city metro areas. I have worked in a profession with a high number of LGBT members. I profess a faith which has a long tradition of upholding conventional normal sexual morality proclaimed in the Bible from cover to cover.
If anyone wants to serve and meets all the qualifications then let him/her /it.
A man who has made full transition to being female will take a PT test or train for combatives against other non-trans females. Will the transwoman have inherent strength lacking in the ordinary from birth women? Will that create trouble? Resentment?
In general I think if someone is fully committed to living as this or that irrespective of the junk he or she had or lacked at birth, then let them!
What most members will likely dislike will be the inevitable army wide LGBT month celebrating another hyphenated subgroup, complete with mandatory briefings, guest speakers at luncheons etc.

This is not a civil rights issue.  We the Armed Forces of the United States of America discriminate, we do it all the time.  If you cannot complete a PT test, your out.  If you continue to be overweight, your out.  If you show disrespect for authority, your out.  The same goes for enlistment.  If you have disqualifying injuries, you don't enlist.  If you are a felon, you don't enlist.  If you have been treated for ADHD, you don't enlist.  If you have been treated for a mental illness, you don't enlist.  Transgender is simply another dis-qualifier.  There are many god reasons for this which your mental health professional can go into detail for you.

Oh wow, i didn't know that transgendered people still can't serve. I find that rather shameful.

I don't see why this is an issue. For the people who are saying that they don't want to be in an open bay shower with someone who is transgender, why does it matter? As though you have never been in an open bay shower before? Or you have never been around a homosexual person before? This is just like the repeal of DADT, it will happen and it won't matter. The only concern I have is for the Standards, I do think that it would be unfair, if a born male says that they are a female, and vice versa, they would not conform to the standards that are set forth by the different services, at least with regards to PT, and Height and Weight.

Who are we to judge who can and cannot join the army???

To be honest, As long as the military can support the hormones they need to take to maintain the change I don't care. I am more comfortable with them because I KNOW their preference. I am not against homosexuals in the military but I can not say I feel secure with a roommate who is gay. I blame this on my first roommate after don't ask don't tell repeal. I suspected she was but when they repealed the rule she got out of control. She started telling me how much she liked me and hit on me relentlessly. She would even bring women over and have sex 3 feet from my bed asking me to join! I know this is not typical and not every gay woman would act like that but it truly felt like I was living with a sex crazed man. If I had a transgender roommate.... we could "man watch" together. Just Joking.... but not really. :)