Air Force Pilots Policy Change on Transgenders
“Gay Pride Month” is just beginning—but we can’t say the same for the administration’s pandering. In the last seven years, Americans have witnessed an almost perpetual parade of deviance, with the president grand marshalling them all! Now, the government’s rainbow love fest is spilling over into the military, where each branch is racing to out-sexualize the other.
After yesterday’s announcement, the Air Force is taking its radicalism to new heights—announcing that it was easing the discharge policy on transgenders in advance of the pride event next Tuesday. (Apparently, we’re now relaxing U.S. security standards in conjunction with P.C. holidays.) The move isn’t a surprise to those familiar with new Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, who was the first service chief to openly lobby for the gender confused to serve. “Times change,” she said in December. “From my point of view, anyone who is capable of accomplishing the job should be able to serve.”
Going where no branch has gone before, the Air Force will let high-ranking officials decide the fate of known transgenders in their ranks. “Though the Air Force policy regarding involuntary separation of gender dysphoric Airmen has not changed, the elevation of decision authority to the director, Air Force Review Boards Agency, ensures the ability to consistently apply the existing policy,” said an Air Force spokesman. “Identification as transgender, absent a record of poor duty performance, misconduct or a medically qualifying condition, is not a basis for involuntary separation.”
For the first time, a medical diagnosis alone won’t trigger a service member’s discharge—superiors will. “There must be a commander determination that the condition interferes with duty requirements,” the Air Force pointed out. In other words, branch leaders can opt to keep open transgenders in their units—despite the fact that it violates military policy and U.S. law.
By putting the decision in commanders’ laps, the entire process becomes more politicized—where before, it was a simple medical determination. And you can bet that in a sexually-charged environment like the Obama military, the pressure to keep people with gender disorders will be enormous. It will be far tougher for commanders to discharge transgender troops, particularly when the head of your branch is an open advocate for keeping them.
Then, of course, there’s the commander-in-chief, who reiterated his support for this congressional end-run through White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz. “Generally speaking, the President certainly agrees with the sentiment that all who are qualified to serve should be able to serve.”
Unfortunately, the president has “certainly agreed” with any LGBT sentiment that undermines marriage, free speech, public health, religious liberty and now national security. Let’s not forget—transgenderism is at its root a serious mental disorder (one classified as such—not just by Johns Hopkins—but the military’s own Defense Department!). If these men and women are confused about their gender, what’s to keep them from being confused about their mission? With the world falling to pieces and the margin of error so slight, can we really afford these distractions? By letting people create their own realities, Washington is losing its grip on its own.
Tony Perkins is president of the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council.
