A Hat Trick

You can’t just wave you hand over a policy and make it legal, you have to go through steps relevant to the new policy. When President Obama came out with his policy of trans servicemembers it was after over a year of study by the RAND corporation that involved medical input and consulting with other nations, while Trump didn’t consult medical professionals nor other nations.

James Mattis Can’t Name The Medical “Experts” Who Supervised The Ban On Transgender Service Members
Sen. Kristen Gillibrand called the Defense Secretary on the mat over restrictive new guidelines that prevent most transgender Americans from enlisting.
NewNowNext
By Jeff Taylor
April 26, 2018

In testimony to Congress today, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. came up short when questioned about continued attempts to ban transgender service members from the military.

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand asked Mattis and Dunford to name the medical professionals they allegedly consulted while drafting new guidelines that prohibit those with diagnosis of gender dysphoria, or requiring transition-related medication or surgery, from military service “except under certain limited circumstances.” (Like Trump’s previous ban, the new regulations have been blocked by a federal judge.)

Mattis was unable to cite those experts, claiming the issue was under litigation, but said he would “see what I can provide, or when I can provide it.” (Sources have claimed the new regulations weren’t actually drafted by Mattis, but rather by Vice President Mike Pence in conjunction with Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins and the Heritage Foundation’s Ryan T. Anderson.)

“…claiming the issue was under litigation…” I don’t buy that because one of the orders by the judge in the case was to disclose that information in court and second, the Defense Department is subject to Congressional oversight and lastly this is not some private company but a government agency that is subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

Gillibrand then asked Dunford if he knew if the policy had created anxiety among transgender troops, and if he had met with any since the new rules were issued. When Dunford said he had not, she suggested he do so in order to become “more informed.”
[…]
She stated that, despite claims about transgender troops being a burden because of medical care or gender dysphoria, a study from the Palm Center found that, of the nearly 1,000 service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2016 and the first half of 2017, 40% deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or Operation New Dawn.

“Only one had an issue during that deployment,” Gillibrand added.
[…]
She suggested the Pentagon’s report didn’t seem to be based “on the department’s data or science, but rather ’potential risks’ that the authors cannot back up.”

Let’s face it the only thing behind the new policy is bigotry.

The hatred of the Trump  administration against us and anything LGBT.

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Last week I wrote about the scathing editorial against us by the Union Leader, now there is a letter-to-the-editor calling out their bias.

Shame on the Union Leader
April 25. 2018 7:02PM

To the Editor: Transgender women are women. Transgender men are men. You really should educate yourselves before you write.

Transgender people are real. Not “fiction,” not “pretending,” not “mimicking,” not “scientifically illiterate” functions of biology.

You do not have to “accept” someone’s gender identity, however, you may not “abuse and harass” as you state. Protection for transgender people is not “forced compliance.”

Your editorial speaks to the exact need for explicit protections for transgender people. I do not believe you when you write, “we wish them well” and “let them lead their lives.”

I believe you believe what you have written in this editorial. This is exactly why HB 1319 needs to pass.

MARCIA GARBER
Hills End Way
Manchester