Coming as a surprise to no one, Democrats in Congress are reportedly preparing to fight President Trump’s recently issued directive regarding transgender individuals in the US military. Their method, according to multiple outlets, will be one or more amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an important defense spending bill considered must-pass legislation by many in Congress.
What is surprising, however, is how many Republicans may be willing to join Democrats in this quixotic effort. CNN reports:
Senate Democrats are hopeful they can get enough Republicans on board to pass an amendment blocking Trump’s directive and preliminary talks are already underway about what kind of measure should be offered on the defense bill, according to Senate aides.
Before Republicans try to #Resist along with their liberal counterparts, however, they should take a moment to break out of the Beltway echo chamber and consider two very important facts about Trump’s transgender military ban.
First, this order is sound policy based on biology, not bigotry.
When we talk about military readiness, we are referring to the country’s duty to ensure that its resources are being used for maximum lethality in defense of American citizens. Right before leaving office, when Barack Obama ordered a change in military policy to treat service members according their “gender identity” rather than their biological sex, the former president prioritized his political agenda over defending our country. As a top general testified before the Senate, their hesitation in implementing Obama’s policy was based on a disagreement over the science of mental health care and hormone therapy for transgender persons.
In other words, the science is still far from settled when it comes to treating gender dysphoria, and the treatments that the LGBT lobby claims to be “medically necessary” might actually be harmful. And, more importantly for the military’s concerns, there are physical standards that men and women must meet when they seek to serve in the armed forces. For the same reason that well-intentioned military volunteers who suffer from diabetes — and would therefore require insulin shots under combat situations — are told that it is just too impractical to allow them to serve, the military has a prudent interest in withholding the privilege to serve from transgender persons who would need hormone therapy shots delivered under the same situations. In short, basing decisions on the reality of the situation — biological sex that is not beholden to an internal sense of identity — is not bigotry. It’s good policy.
And second, Trump’s order isn’t just red meat for the base; it’s a smart political move because most Americans haven’t bought into the absurd fad of transgender ideology.
As a comprehensive post-election study shows, the large majority of voters who rose up last year to say “enough is enough” are moderate on economic issues but very conservative on social issues. News flash for Congress: social experimentation in the military does not go over well with conservatives.
These voters — the same voters who voted Trump into the White House — will not give a pass to those members of Congress who chose to weaken America’s military readiness for the sake of temporary popularity with Democrats and their cheerleaders in the media. Most Americans are already fed up with Congress. And if Congressional Republicans continue to sell out those Americans and their families to the LGBT political machine, they are unlikely to be rewarded.
