In June of this year, the U.S. Department of Defense lifted longstanding regulations preventing people who self-identify as transgender from serving. CNN reported that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter had been “studying the issue for nearly a year.” Secretary Carter held a press conference at the Pentagon to announce the change which will mean, that in cases where doctors deem it medically necessary, the military will pay for a service member’s hormone therapy or even sex-change surgery. According to the new policy, incoming service members must be “stable” in their gender identity for 18 months before joining. Secretary Carter explained, “The Defense Department and the military need to avail ourselves of all talent possible in order to remain what we are now — the finest fighting force the world has ever known.”
This begs the question whether, in his year-long inquiry into the issue, the Defense Secretary ever asked the non-transgender rank-and-file their opinions on the subject since the new policy will affect them.
Perhaps he did. Because now there’s going to be a concerted effort, beginning in the US Navy, to reeducate sailors regarding this issue. Starting November 1, all sailors will be required to undergo what’s being called “transgender behavior education.” This training, according to Navy Chief of Personnel Vice Admiral Robert Burke, will consist of hours of briefings and discussion groups. Supervisors will be taught to detect signs that transgenders are being mistreated and how to mete out the appropriate discipline. CO’s will participate in webinars to learn the ins and outs of reinforcing the training, which will be done by mobile units dispatched across the Navy.
The Family Research Council’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin, who spent 13 years in the Army’s Delta Force, including two years as its commander, pointed out that changes to military rules and procedures involve voluminous paperwork and training. FRC warns that, in this case, all this effort will be expended “teaching transgender etiquette at the expense of warfighting skills.”
And there will be another cost. FRC’s Travis Weber, a former Navy pilot, predicts “increased discord in the military due to forcing people who cannot in good conscience go along with being told what they need to believe in these training sessions.” He says, “you are going to see people refuse to sign up for the military or refuse to re-enlist.”
This can be stopped, at least for now. Congress can add language delaying this nonsense to the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. A future White House could reverse it completely.
This policy will either silence Christians in the military or drive them out. The Left is again using the military in its quest for power. It fans the flames of the transgender movement to get people to question why God would erroneously, even maliciously, assign someone the wrong gender. Faithful believers who stand for truth are the targets here.
