Transgenders now welcome to serve openly in the military!

[Ralphy1]

This is the last group to be allowed equality by the Pentagon. However, it is questionable how many will join or those that are already in actually come out...

 

[Debby]

Seems to me that they'd be out of their minds to serve in the military. Sure, the top brass might say it's now allowed but that doesn't mean that the rank and file are going to automatically be nice and decent and.....

Even here in Canada, one of our big issues in the military is sexual abuse and that's just in reference to male/female relations.

 

[jujube]

Are we talking about people who have had reassignment surgery or are just dressing as their chosen sexual identity but still have the original equipment? I can see it being a real problem if we're talking the latter here.

I'm sure things have changed a lot since the Spousal Equivalent left the Navy, but he said on two of the four ships he served on, bathroom facilities were, to put it mildly....open. There was a row of toilets down one wall with no privacy between them.....you're just sitting there 18 inches away from the next guy. Urinals were just a trough on the wall and showers were just a series of shower heads open to the room. Not conducive to "differences" there, I'd say.

 

[tnthomas]

The report I heard on the radio the other day was that there are currently 11,000 known transgenders in the military, currently.

The military should be a slice of society at large, why should disproportionate numbers of a particular gender, race or <?> serve, and sacrifice for their country?

 

[fureverywhere]

I agree with Debby, I don't feel it has to be a big announcement. A good soldier is a good soldier. But the armed forces tend towards harassment regardless.

 

[QuickSilver]

I also have to echo Debby.... They WOULD have to be out of their minds to subject themselves to what the rank and file would dish out..

 

[Debby]

The report I heard on the radio the other day was that there are currently 11,000 known transgenders in the military, currently.

The military should be a slice of society at large, why should disproportionate numbers of a particular gender, race or <?> serve, and sacrifice for their country?

I don't think anyone is saying any particular type of person 'should' serve, just that given the general 'climate' in the military, we were feeling like a transgendered person would probably be walking into a potentially 'dangerous' environment.

A couple years ago, our military officials got proactive about trying to squash sexual harassment in the military and the woman that they got in to talk to the enlisted guys and lower level officers were openly hostile and condescending throughout the talk and as she walked out after it was over. And transgendered....isn't that likely to be even more of an issue to young men?

 

[tnthomas]

I don't think anyone is saying any particular type of person 'should' serve, just that given the general 'climate' in the military, we were feeling like a transgendered person would probably be walking into a potentially 'dangerous' environment.

I'm not saying that any particular type of person 'should' serve either. I am only saying that the makeup of the military should reflect the demographics of society at-large, meaning that the military should not be unrepresentative of segments of society...to the exclusion of individuals that would want to be in the military.