Below is an extract of a post published on Metro titled "As a transgender captain in the US army, I worry for my future in the forces"
Scroll down to the bottom of this article and tap the read article button to visit the Metro post directly and give your opinion.
Make america great again.- Donald Trump.
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog.- Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.- Theodore Roosevelt.
Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak and esteem to all.- George Washington.
America 1st Girl is a Blog by Conservative Artist Cara Sky.
Essentially i Blog on all things Donald Trump and on occasion post my own Art.
I curate Donald Trump articles and notable Tweets on your behalf from all over the web into one easy site for you to browse without trolling through hundreds of different sites or posts.
America 1st Girl is not affiliated with the journalist or Twitter user who published the original article or Tweet, nor is she responsible for any affiliations the journalist or Tweeter user in question may hold.
Everything here on America 1st Girl is Donald Trump related from Media to Podcasts, Forums, Blogs and Fan groups.
Via: Metro
Alivia and her colleagues testifying before the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on military personnel (Picture: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images) When the transgender ban in the military goes into effect today, America takes a step back. We walk away from diversity and progress and towards discrimination and prejudice. It is concerning for a host of reasons: it is a national security issue, it is fraught with confusion and uncertainty for commanders and places medical providers in ethically difficult positions. It has already begun to have effects on family and current service members. Perhaps most concerning, it is a discriminatory policy that begs the question, ‘who is next?’ Allowing transgender Americans to serve is a national security issue for the United States. In 2018, the army was unable to reach its recruiting goals. Interestingly, transgender people serve at nearly twice the rate as cisgender people. Banning a group of qualified individuals simply because of who they are is risky and has no benefit. Civilian officials and politicians have raised numerous objections to transgender people serving openly, including decreased readiness, high cost, and decreased morale or unit cohesion, but these ‘concerns’ are all easily debunked. The RAND corporation, in a study commissioned by the Department of Defence, stated that there would be negligible cost, and they were right. The DoD has spent over 10 times more on medication for erectile dysfunction as compared to care for transgender service members in the same period. Recently, the service chiefs testified before congress that in the nearly three years of open transgender service, there have been ‘precisely zero’ issues with morale or unit cohesion. The American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association have repeatedly stated that there is no reason to exclude transgender Americans from serving in the military, expressing that the new policy is based on discrimination and prejudice and has absolutely no basis in science. If senior officials can use easily debunked ‘concerns’ to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military, who is next? (Picture: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images) And when it comes to readiness, at least 400 of the 994 people diagnosed with gender dysphoria between 2016 and 2017 have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, which is significantly higher than the deployment rate of the Army as a whole. I’ll never forget getting a call from a special operations medic while I was in Afghanistan. He said, ‘Ma’am, I’ve heard great things about you – can you come take care of my guys?’ Not only was I ready, I made the people around me ready. When the prior ban was repealed in 2016, then-Secretary of Defence Ash Carter stated one of the reasons was that [by its very discriminatory, non-scientific, nature] it caused significant confusion and difficulty for commanders. The new ban is even worse. Before, it was a clear policy – being transgender disqualified you from the forces on medical grounds. The new policy, however, states that being transgender doesn’t stop you from being in the army, choosing to transition does. This is akin to saying that having a broken limb isn’t disqualifying, but having it repaired is (it’s not). It places medical providers in an ethically untenable position in which no matter how they proceed, the service members will suffer. Some say that this ban will not affect those who are serving and have already transitioned. This is patently false. The new policy has already begun to affect people. I have heard that commanders have refused to allow service members professional development opportunities. They have refused to sign paperwork to process administrative changes or to allow their subordinates to attend medical appointments related to transition. Early next year, my promotion board will meet and consider my file. Given that the new policy states that transgender people are a burden to the military and do not belong, what is the likelihood that I am considered based on my merits and not on the fact that I am transgender? Perhaps most concerning is what this portends for our future. If senior officials can use easily debunked ‘concerns’ to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military, who is next? More: Donald Trump Trump claims to ‘know nothing’ about Assange despite praising WikiLeaks in the past Illegal immigration to US at highest for 12 years despite Donald Trump’s vow to crack down Donald Trump to get full state visit including carriage procession in June Is it women? Our country has only recently opened all jobs in the military to women. A single pregnancy would make a woman non-deployable for longer than all of my transition related care. Is it gay men or lesbian women? Is it African Americans? These groups were all banned from service in the not-so-distant past of the United States. The same arguments are being used now that were used to exclude all of these people not from serving in the military, but from participating fully in society. One day, this policy, too, will fall. And on that day, those of my countrymen and women who supported this ban will look back and ask themselves, ‘With all the examples in our history, how did we get this so wrong…again?’ The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent those of the United States Army or the Department of Defence. MORE: More than 3,000 military officers on standby in case of no-deal Brexit MORE: If you can respect my dog’s pronouns, you should be able to respect mine MORE: LGBT Role Models: ‘I realised I couldn’t live without my real authentic self’
