We simply must stop looking at transgender issues from a single issue perspective.
How is it possible that we see ourselves (as most viable, growing people do) as complex and simultaneously wrestling with multiple issues in our lives and yet we somehow seem satisfied when someone tries to explain away the formidable barriers to transgender military service by offering a single issue to be overcome. "Hey, there is no medical support for a permanent ban on transgender individuals from ever being able to serve, so let's all join up!"
OK, I know. Many other countries allow transgender servicemembers and they don't seem to have any problems. Why can't that happen in the US military?
For starters, all military cultures are products of their societies, and the US military is a product of American culture. And whether we want to admit it or not our American military culture is fundamentally dysfunctional with respect to gender.
Oh, for sure, when it comes to defending America and upholding the highest standards of valor and courage we can't be beat. We also can't be beat when it comes to the sheer numbers of sexual assaults committed by servicemembers against other servicemembers. We're superstars when it comes to not reporting those attacks due to command indifference and fear of retribution or damage to one's career. And if they gave prizes for failure to properly investigate or prosecute sexual assaults - well, we're Number 1!
In all of these areas the US military performs abysmally and far worse than the civilian community. And year after year the trend continues and senior leaders remain impotent in their feeble efforts to effect any sort of meaningful change.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but our American military is raping more of their fellow Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines every year, and they do it at rates far in excess of civilian rates of forcible rape. Oh, and they're attacking men as well as women. I shudder to think what will happen to transgender servicemembers. We're already more likely to be victims of violent attacks on the streets of America; it would be open season on transgender assaults on military installations and outposts.
So you say there is no medical support for a permanent ban on transgender individuals from ever being able to serve? You're right! But there's a deeply rooted tolerance for this particular criminal behavior that we just can't seem to find a solution for. Until we do we're just offering up our brothers and sisters on a plate to a military legal system that has already proven that it won't or can't do anything at all to guarantee transgender servicemembers' safety or seek justice following their inevitable sexual assaults.
