It’s Not About Transsexuals in the Military

It’s not about whether people who consider themselves “transgender” have equal individual rights under the Constitution. It’s about the right and responsibility of the military to conduct itself, and the right of the Commander-in-Chief — the U.S. President — to make decisions he sees as most fitting and appropriate to the safety of the country.

When Barack Obama headed the military, we were told that it was his right to demand that the military make all necessary accommodations for transsexual persons, regardless of the impact on military operations and issues such as discipline, morale and the like. Now that Donald Trump is President, he presumably has the same right to make a different decision. But that’s not what the shrieks of outrage are claiming. They’re claiming that when Donald Trump makes a decision that some do not like, he has no right to make it. When a different president makes a decision they do like, they have a right to say that president’s word and authority are final.

People who are not in the military, and never have been in the military — myself included — are free to argue what’s best for the military. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to imagine the problems that a man with a penis who feels that he’s a woman will create when demanding that he be treated as a woman in the context of the day-to-day military.

The contempt by progressives who disagree with President Trump on his decision to relieve the military of its obligation to bend over backwards to accommodate transsexuals reveals their deeper-level contempt for the military itself. And their contempt for the military exposes a still deeper hatred of all things American. They claim they oppose President Trump’s policy because of a love of liberty. But lovers of liberty would never seek to impose burdens on the military placed in charge of defending liberty to do what it cannot do.

The bottom line? Nobody has a right to serve in the military. The natural rights to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness do not imply a right to serve in the military. The same applies to gays and lesbians, by the way. The military accepts gays and lesbians because it presumably finds certain gay and lesbian individuals add to the military’s strength just as well as anyone who is not gay or lesbian. Being gay or lesbian is not the same thing as being (or claiming to feel) transgendered. We must leave it up to those responsible for the military to decide what makes sense for them.

It’s not in anyone’s interest to have a military bogged down or otherwise hampered by experimental social policies that will only harm the military’s capacity to function rationally in the long run. Come back to reality, progressives. It’s good for you!