URGENT: Discussion on Transsexuals and the Military

[Dana Lane]

Hi everyone,

I was lucky enough to attend a talk by Mara Keisling last night at the University of Pennsylvania's QPenn 2011.

http://thedp.com/article/qpenn-keynote-addresses-transgender-issues

However, the Daily Pennsylvanian published an article by a Mother of two Penn Students on the same day that was somewhat anti-trans.

Suzette Collins | The unnecessary transgender debate

http://thedp.com/article/suzette-collins-unnecessary-transgender-debate


A student leader and passionate LGBT activist wants to counter this article with facts. Please read the article and give any supporting thoughts and facts that you can.

[Dana Lane]

The article included a thoughtful statement regarding the concern that some people transitioning from one sex to another are under enormous physical stress and would not make good candidates for military service.

I don't think she looked in a 'fact book' to come up with this statement. I am not sure what she means by 'physical stress' due to transitioning.

[GinaDouglas]

She makes some salient points.  I don't see a crisis.

Her logical flaw is, this: While the concept of not asking and not telling is a sound concept and probably the best practice, the problem is when people get kicked out because DADT went awry.  What we need is a practice/policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Give A Squat One Way Or The Other.  DADTDGASOWOTO.

[tekla]

Not that I disagree with either the motive or the method, I do think that the real issue is:

This whole debate over supposed military discrimination against transgender people after the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is just another excuse to encourage an anti-military position on elite college campuses that have not offered ROTC programs since the days of the Vietnam War. For well over 20 years after schools like Harvard, Yale and Stanford universities dropped their ROTC units, there was not a single mention of, or concern for, the rights of gays in the military. These schools were just set against sponsoring ROTC.

And I'm not against ROTC, kinda like the program, but I think it works better in large scale public schools like THE Ohio State, Texas A&M, etc.

[spacial]

I am not an American, as you know, but reading this article these points sprung up:

that some people transitioning from one sex to another are under enormous physical stress and would not make good candidates for military service.

As has already been said, this is a presumption.

The military actively discriminates (not in the sense that it treats unfairly, but that it discerns or selects) against most physical challenges.........

Not all discrimination is bad. .........

So is it a problem that the military has high physical performance standards and naturally selects against those who have physical challenges?

I can agree with each of these points.

But the article then goes on to discuss gays in the military.

This is an irrelevance.

I went to an all boys boarding school where, like most such institutions, homosexuality was one of the four taboos. (Along with bringing down the good name of the unit, stealing from your fellows and sneeking). The reason for these taboos in boarding schools as well as the military is that these destroy trust. In the case of homosexuality, we were sleeping together, showering together and mixing on a very personal basis. Just like in your family, if you think or fear someone may try to sexually assault you, it makes relationships difficult.

I was as gay then as I am now. There was no secret, neither for the other gay boys. But we never, not once, ever, expressed it. Simply because it would destroy our relationships.

But if I had been post op, my sexuality wouldn't have been an issue. I would have been a hetrosexual female. Any relationships I wouldn't have had would have been the same as any other hetrosexual female. The social and personal barriers between myself and the other boys would have been the same as any other hetrosexual females.

The only possibly problem I can think of for a post op transgender applicant, is the extent of the healing of their incisions. Like a hernia, for example, these wounds can burst. However, speaking as someone who did indeed have a hernia op, in my early 20s, I have since, lifted enormous amounts and suffered no such problems.

To suggest that a woman who is transgender is going to have any more problems than any other woman allpicant needs some clarification.

But using the gay argument, doesn't apply.

[Dana Lane]

Thanks for participating. Any chance a moderator can move this to "just for us"?