Common Sense And Empathy: Transgenders And The Military

Share Button

mentalIt’s common sense. The military needs the best of the best. There is a plethora of conditions that bar entrance into the military. The long list of things that can disqualify a person is to ensure that we have able, fit, mentally stable, and willing people to serve. It’s like any other job: if you are not qualified, you don’t get hired.

After Donald Trump announced via Twitter that transgender people were going to be prohibited from joining the military, the small percentage of citizens who are pro-LGBT became very active on social sites, saying that this ONE policy sets civil rights back to before the 1960’s. There were cries that Trump was being unkind, fascistic, Hitler, anti-liberty, blah blah blah. Frankly, I got tired of hearing the complaints since none are based in logic, common sense, history, or even kindness.

Serving In The Military Is Not A Right

No one has the right to serve in the military. The armed forces are not institutes for social experiments or progressive agendas. Nobody’s liberty is being denied if they are refused from serving.

This policy does not set civil rights back to the 1960’s. Even IF military service was a right, LGBT folk seem to forget, or not know, that for the first years of Obama’s administration, transgendered folk were barred from the military. It’s only been for the last few years that they have been allowed. LGBT militants who act as if it has been a long established practice for transgender people to serve are blind to reality.

It’s Not The Military’s Role To Be Kind

The military was not established to make people feel good about themselves. It’s not an institute concerned with people’s feelings. The military was established to destroy and kill our enemies. The armed forces should not, and cannot afford to, spend time and resources concerned about the feelings of an immeasurably small percentage of people .

Transgenders Are Suffering From Mental ISSUE

Yes, in extremely rare instances, some babies are born with abnormal genitals, and gender cannot easily be determined. I’m not referring to these extremely rare occurrences when I say that transgenders have some kind of a mental issue. I’m referring to those who although clearly have a penis or a vagina, or better yet XY or XX, think their gender is different than what their genitals and DNA tell them.

I’m not being dismissive, cruel, or anti-science when I say that. It’s been established for decades upon decades that gender dysphoria (commonly known as transgenderism) is a mental issue. Science and medical periodicals, manuals, documents etc. have, and in most instances still do, refer to the condition as a mental issue. It’s only been in recent years that militant yet small lobby groups have pushed for changes to some medical periodicals and definitions. The changes were not based on any new scientific or medical discoveries, but rather on emotional reactionaries in the LBGT militant movement.

Transgenders Are Ill — They Need Prayed For, They Need Help, They Need Empathy

The point that gender dysphoria is a mental issue doesn’t mean those suffering from it are bad. I don’t think they should be locked away. It must be awful to feel trapped. I cannot fathom the emotional roller coaster gender dysphoria would do to one’s soul. Depending on the source you read, the attempted suicide rate of transgenders is about ten times higher than that of the rest of the population. That is startling. And that rate does not improve after gender reassignment surgery, but in some instances worsens.

I think those dealing with this dysphoria desperately need help. Those in their lives need to be empathetic and pray for them. However, help and empathy does not mean enabling them to feed the dysphoria.

To call these people sick or ill is not cruel. I suffer from depression and anxiety. At times, the depression is deep and not even my wife, who is my joy, can get me out of the darkness. The smiles of my loving children can’t help either. At times, I get crippling anxiety attacks. When my therapist told me I was suffering from depression and anxiety, I knew I had a mental illness. He wasn’t being cruel by slapping a label on my condition, he was helping me by determining the issue so I can get better. If he had tried to keep me depressed, to feed the anxiety, his license would have eventually been revoked.

To deny a transgender as having  mental issues is abusive, cruel, immoral, and is anti-science. From a medical and scientific viewpoint, they need help. But they cannot get the help if the problem is denied.

NO, I’M NOT A TRUMP SYCOPHANT

In case you didn’t know, I voted third-party in the 2016 presidential election.  If you know me and have read my previous writings, you know I am not a fan of Donald Trump, but that doesn’t mean I automatically hate everything he does. I’m not a team jersey wearer. I see good as good and bad as bad. I liked Trump’s pick for Supreme Court. I like some of the rules and regulations lifted by the Trump administration. I agree with this common sense decision from Trump furthering the prevention of mentally ill people from joining the military.

Individuals with Gender dysphoria, just like those suffering from other mental disorders such as chronic depression and anxiety, should not serve in the military. They should seek help and then do their best to live a “normal” civilian life. They will not find help in the military. The military’s role is not that of empathy or helping with unique and rare mental conditions.

Share Button

2 thoughts on “Common Sense And Empathy: Transgenders And The Military”

  1. What, you’re a medical expert? How do YOU know it is a mental illness?!? Have you spent years and years of school studying transgenders? No? I didn’t think so. You are an asshole. Transgenders are going through something very real and they need understanding and caring. You’re probably a homophobe too. 

  2. Good afternoon. While I agree with you on some points (for example, transsexuals in the military. If you’ve just had surgery or need medication, that isn’t appropriate for serving in combat), I’ll respectfully disagree on another.

    The current definition for mental illness is along these lines:
    “A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social, occupational, or other important activities. An expectable or culturally approved response to a common stressor or loss, such as the death of a loved one, is not a mental disorder. Socially deviant behavior (e.g., political, religious, or sexual) and conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are not mental disorders unless the deviance or conflict results from a dysfunction in the individual, as described above.”

    And old definitions are basically pretty similar.
    Basically, a mental disorder causes distress or impairs someone’s ability to function, not including normal responses to exceptional situations. And I look at myself. I’m not in distress, nor do I lack any ability to function. I’m a pretty average person in society.

    I have a relative who has a very serious mental illness. It’s from the other side of her family, so no, not connected to me. Anyway, it’s difficult to speak to her because it’s hard to tell if she’s really listening to you or comprehending what you’re saying. Her answers are short and it’s hard to tell if she’s even responding to what you said. She can’t function in society.

    I can’t compare my life with her life and say that I’m suffering in any way like she is because I’m not. Most people would never guess that I’m transsexual unless I told them. It’s not really impairing my life, though it can cause stress – I mean, who wouldn’t be stressed about telling their families about something like that?

    Considering the research, I would consider it more along the lines of something physical. In the latest brain scans and neurological tests they’ve found that transsexuals have brains that are more typical for the gender they identify as rather than the gender they appear as. They’ve also discovered that transsexual people have different neurological responses to stimuli when compared to people who aren’t transsexual. These things can’t be faked, so I think it’s fair to say that there’s a physical biological component that plays a contributing factor in transsexuality.
    If you say, “It’s all in their heads”, it’s kind of true if someone’s brain scan shows a male brain in a female body.

    It isn’t even too difficult to fathom, considering that people mutate from the same starting point in order to become male or female. It would be stranger if nothing abnormal ever happened in the process.

    As for things like the suicide rate, I think it’s too difficult to tell if there’s a direct connection or if it’s caused by outside influences. I can say from experience that even in today’s society, trying to face family members to explain something like transsexuality and facing rejection from everyone you love is a pretty hard pill to swallow. I’ve often had to sit quietly and listen to rants about transpeople from people I cared about, while telling my friends in college was no big deal (though that also brought with it challenges on occasion, like when a teacher pretty much interrogated me about it in front of the entire class). There’s an immense amount of societal pressure and I can easily see how it would be too much for some people. I wasn’t born from the nethers of a tree. I was born in a tightknit family. I taught my niece how to read and used to put her to bed. Go to all the kids’ sports games. Help my parents with a lot of things because they aren’t physically able. Found some stray kittens and been splitting the medical expenses to care for them with my brother. I have people I care about and love a lot who are a major part of my life, and no matter where the rest of society is at on the issue the thing that would still destroy me the most is losing them.
    In other words, being transsexual, I think, is mostly easy. I don’t think a lot of the troubles are much harder to bear than anyone else’. It’s being isolated and rejected that’s hard. Unless we know the circumstances related to the suicide of each transsexual person, I can’t say that it was caused by them being transsexual or by outside forces. Surgery can’t really fix it if your parents say they don’t want you anymore. Try imagining telling your kids that you don’t love them and I’m sure the emotional recoil such a thought would give the majority of people can explain the trauma a lot of transsexual people end up going through.

    Anyway, those are some of my thoughts on the subject. Peace.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.