The Pentagon’s Transgender Problem

Former SEAL Kristen Beck

Not many things can shock me anymore, with the exception of this recent alarming article, The Pentagon’s Transgender Problem, describing how the Pentagon is undergoing many challenges with male to female transgendered people who are or have been in our Armed Services. The findings for the various studies cited open one’s eyes as to what is really happening to so many TGs that it has become a deadly epidemic.

Many male to female (mtf) TGs decide to purge their crossdressing, become ‘real man’ and enlist in our Armed Services. Who knew that TGs are two times more likely to join the military than other groups? Why? Many are trying to purge — not just their femme clothes but moreover their femme side and become a ‘real man.’

The costs are outrageous. The number of suicides for transgenders in the military is staggering; they are 20 times more likely to commit suicide than others who have served. That is not even counting suicide attempts. It is now in epidemic proportions.

Many enlisted, thinking and hoping that being in an immensely testosterone, patriarchal institutional system, would make them into real macho men. In fact, according to this article 20% of TG’s have served in our military over the years. It is not a secret — there have always been gays and bisexuals in the military but lack of information — otherwise known as ignorance — prevented the military from predicting TGs serving in our US military.

However, this situation is highly concerning because the risks are so high, too many lives are at risk.

“Two new peer-reviewed studies indicate that, beyond being discriminatory, the military’s current policy starves the armed services of some of their likeliest recruits, and puts transgender people who serve at greater risk of discrimination, homelessness, and assault than those who don’t.”

One has to face the facts — that the Pentagon has yet to protect these trangendered soldiers otherwise the aforementioned would not be taking place.

Additionally, “The Harvard study, “Still Serving in Silence,” relies on statistics compiled by the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS). It emphasizes that transgender veterans and service members face high rates of job, housing, and medical discrimination. Breaking down the responses between transgender veteran/service members and transgender civilians, the study found that the military respondents were more likely to be fired (36 vs. 24 percent), evicted (14 vs. 10 percent), and refused medical treatment (24 vs. 18 percent) than civilians.”

Former missile commander Allyson Robinson.

This is an example of institutionalized prejudice against the LGBT community. It is a mixture of overt and covert ways of discrimination. Can we really trust the Pentagon to come up with the right solutions? One way, is to do more, deep, intensive psychological testing regarding Gender Identity Disorder (GID) BEFORE the military admits them into our armed services — not to mention put them in our front lines.

Also, one of the saddest findings was found among veterans who use VA services. The ones who have Gender Identity Disorder were discovered to be 20 times more likely to kill themselves. So the VA is also an obvious place to start to identifying these TGs with GID as high risk, needing more medical attention and psychological therapy to assist their multifarious needs.

In fact, “Veteran Affairs” reported recently that ex-military members “comprised approximately 22.2% of all suicides reported” from 2009 to 2012.

Now that we all know the reason why the Pentagon has  “A Problem,” what do we need to do to save their lives — not from opposition bullets but from their own willing, desperate hands?

Dee A Levy, MA
The Cross Dressers Wife *Our Secret Lives
www.crossdressers.com

Tags: featured, opinion, pentagon TG policy, TG soldier, Transgender

Category: Transgender Opinion