Transgenders in the military pose a different problem from gays in the military.
For one thing, gays have served in the military probably from the origins but certainly since WWII and with distinction, whereas the whole notion of transgender is a relatively recent thing, a creation of 20th century medicine and psychiatry.
Yes, women disguised themselves as men and served in the Civil War, but nobody knows if these were an early sort of "transgender." For the most part, the explanation we have is these women simply wanted to serve and as warriors not as nurses.
Transgenders are different from homosexuals in many ways, but from the point of view of the military, homosexuals need no medical support to be homosexuals; they simply are. Transgenders need ongoing hormone therapy and sometimes urologic care and always medical surveillance.
Next time you discuss this topic with someone who claims transgenders are no different than women on birth control pills, ask that person to describe the exact medications and the risks of those medications to you.
Soldiers, sailors, airmen and certainly Coast Guard personnel who become diabetic are bounced out of their respective services quite ruthlessly. Not in every case. A West Point graduate I know served in Afghanistan with an insulin pump, but in most cases you cannot serve in combat or on a Coast Guard cutter on insulin. You are discharged, terminated, bid good bye from service.
Transgenders have argued the hormones they need are no more complicated than the hormones in birth control pills or the pills. But that is not true. If it were true, transgenders could be taken care of by primary care providers, but just watch those PCP's run in droves from taking on that responsibility. Transgender care occurs in uncharted seas and is complicated enough that even most endocrinologists demur in their care.
The suicide rates alone, among transgenders is daunting: It is indisputably somewhere between 25 and 40%, with most studies leaning to the higher number.
Is this suicide burdern, which might later be laid at the feet of a PTSD claim what the military really wants to take on?
Nobody should be made to feel badly because of their sexual preferences or because of their gender identity. But saying that is a far cry from saying transgenders should get everything they want in life. Diabetics, hypertensives, people with all sorts of medical conditions requiring prescriptions cannot serve. Transgenders deserve no special consideration in this regard.
For one thing, gays have served in the military probably from the origins but certainly since WWII and with distinction, whereas the whole notion of transgender is a relatively recent thing, a creation of 20th century medicine and psychiatry.
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| Dr. Frederick Banting |
Yes, women disguised themselves as men and served in the Civil War, but nobody knows if these were an early sort of "transgender." For the most part, the explanation we have is these women simply wanted to serve and as warriors not as nurses.
Transgenders are different from homosexuals in many ways, but from the point of view of the military, homosexuals need no medical support to be homosexuals; they simply are. Transgenders need ongoing hormone therapy and sometimes urologic care and always medical surveillance.
Next time you discuss this topic with someone who claims transgenders are no different than women on birth control pills, ask that person to describe the exact medications and the risks of those medications to you.
Soldiers, sailors, airmen and certainly Coast Guard personnel who become diabetic are bounced out of their respective services quite ruthlessly. Not in every case. A West Point graduate I know served in Afghanistan with an insulin pump, but in most cases you cannot serve in combat or on a Coast Guard cutter on insulin. You are discharged, terminated, bid good bye from service.
Transgenders have argued the hormones they need are no more complicated than the hormones in birth control pills or the pills. But that is not true. If it were true, transgenders could be taken care of by primary care providers, but just watch those PCP's run in droves from taking on that responsibility. Transgender care occurs in uncharted seas and is complicated enough that even most endocrinologists demur in their care.
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| van Gogh |
The suicide rates alone, among transgenders is daunting: It is indisputably somewhere between 25 and 40%, with most studies leaning to the higher number.
Is this suicide burdern, which might later be laid at the feet of a PTSD claim what the military really wants to take on?
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| Obadiah Youngblood |
Nobody should be made to feel badly because of their sexual preferences or because of their gender identity. But saying that is a far cry from saying transgenders should get everything they want in life. Diabetics, hypertensives, people with all sorts of medical conditions requiring prescriptions cannot serve. Transgenders deserve no special consideration in this regard.
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