U.S. Armed Forces Must Focus on ‘Readiness’ – Not ‘Rights’

A military watchdog believes President Trump’s policy on transgender service members will eventually win in court.

Not long before leaving office, President Obama, along with Defense Secretary Carter, announced the nation was ending the ban on transgender Americans serving in the U.S. military.  “Effectively immediately, transgender Americans may serve openly and they can no longer be discharged or otherwise separated from the military just for being transgender,” Carter said in a 2016 press conference.  “Additionally, I have directed that the gender identity of an otherwise qualified individual would not bar them from military service or any other accession program.”

In taking these steps, Carter said the federal government was eliminating policies that can result in transgender members being treated differently from their peers based solely upon their gender identity rather than upon their ability to serve.  “And we’re confirming that going forward we will apply the same general principles, standards and procedures to transgender service members as we do to all service members,” Carter added.

The announcement from the Obama Administration followed a study by the RAND Corporation that found the policy would have minimal impact on readiness and healthcare costs.

But then Donald Trump became President.

After taking office, President Trump announced a new policy – one that was less inclusive and resulted in at least four federal judges ordering the Trump Administration to stick with the Obama-era policy.

But speaking last week on American Family Radio, Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness said there was nothing wrong with Trump’s policy.  “It was surprisingly consistent with what the president said originally when he said we will not have transgenders in the military, but it is a nuanced approach,” she explained.  “It says, for instance, that those who came out under the previous policy (under Obama) would be allowed to stay in the military, their treatment will continue, they will not be negatively affected.”  Donnelly thinks this completely demolishes the premise of litigation against Trump, “but of course the judges won’t acknowledge that,” she predicted.

The Trump Administration’s policy also says persons with gender dysphoria will not be eligible to serve in the military in the future.  Donnelly continued: “There is one rather nuanced section [in the new policy] where it says it will allow persons who identify as something other than their biological gender or their transgender; but if they do not have gender dysphoria, and if they serve in their biological gender, and if they are deployable and they comply with all of those rules – and if all of this applies for 36 months – then they can serve in the military.”  While acknowledging that’s complicated, Donnelly said it shows that the president is trying to be reasonable here.  “But he’s being firm in saying that military readiness comes first,” she added.  “The military does not exist to provide medical benefits just for the sake of providing medical benefits.  The military health system should not be misused.  It is a force multiplier – and he has his priorities straight.”

At some point, Donnelly believes this issue will wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court where the federal injunctions will be struck down, and for several reasons.  “The Constitution, number one,” she said.  “The judges have zero, no authority at all, over the military, because Article Three, which defines the judiciary, does not give that power to the judiciary.”

Many of you will know, I cautioned the military of this matter back in my 2010 U.S. Army War College paper – that the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ will lead us down the slippery slope of sexual perversions being argued as individual ‘rights’ at the price of our military’s ‘readiness.’  As a 25-year veteran, it saddens me that my (then) prophetic words have (now) come to pass.  Thank God for a Commander-in-Chief who appears to understand the importance of readiness over rights, and is not interested in using our military as a national ‘petri dish’ for social experimentation.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel