A retired Navy SEAL Team 6 hero who is transgender had a message for President Donald Trump after he announced the US military would bar transgender people from serving."Let's meet face to face and you tell me I'm not worthy," Kristin Beck, a 20-year veteran of the Navy SEALs, told Business Insider on Wednesday. "Transgender doesn't matter. Do your service."Beck is not just your average service member. Born Christopher Beck, she served for 20 years in the Navy with SEAL Teams 1, 5, and, eventually, the elite 6. She deployed 13 times over two decades, including stints in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. She received the Bronze Star award for valor and the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat.
i) To begin with, a "transgender woman" is a biological male. But the logic of trangenderism is that "transgender men" (i.e. biological females) should be able to serve in elite forces. However, the fact that a "transgender woman" (i.e.. biological male) can be an effective Navy SEAL hardly means a "transgender man" can pull it off. Men and women have dramatically different physical and psychological aptitudes. For instance:
ii) In addition, I assume Beck wasn't on hormone therapy during his time as a Navy SEAL. But if, to be a "transgender woman," he must undergo hormone therapy, that will impair his speed, strength, and stamina. He'll no longer perform at peak ability, compared to his normal, untransitioned self.
By the same token, would Beck have been a successful Navy SEAL if his parents put him on puberty blockers during adolescence?
Same problem with the Bruce Jenner comparison. Think "Caitlyn" could still win the decathlon if he underwent hormone therapy? Not to mention hormone blockers as an adolescent boy.
"Being transgender doesn't affect anyone else"
Tell that to the biological girls and women who are now getting creamed in competitive sports by "transgender females".
I am unaware of Beck or other lgbt proponents fighting for a lower standard in the military since the directive last year. Trump banned all transgender "in any capacity" - regardless of whether they meet the physical requirements for a combat position, or even those in non-combat positions. Since you agree "that a "transgender woman" (i.e.. biological male) can be an effective Navy SEAL", job performance isn't the issue behind the blanket and unqualified ban apparently.
ReplyDeleteBeck did an interview with gq in 2015 - no, he was not on hormones nor had surgery while in service (and he only briefly used hormones after service but stopped due to damage it could cause) but since age 5 has felt like a woman and actively had those feelings during service and dressed as one (even confiding in a fellow seal) - it wasn't a post-service development. So not all transgender are perpetually unstable and confused to the extent they cannot perform their duties effectively or will "disrupt" cohesion, which seems to be the popular narrative in support of the ban.
"I am unaware of Beck or other lgbt proponents fighting for a lower standard in the military since the directive last year."
DeleteNaive. Is that how you think the strategy works? No. It's incremental. Just like lowering standards for women in elite forces. They don't begin by demanding lower standards. Rather, they get a foot in the door.
BTW, aren't you a Catholic conservative? If so, why are you promoting the transgender agenda?
"Just like lowering standards for women in elite forces."
DeleteHave the standards been lowered for women in elite forces? Apparently not - http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/02/15/a-year-in-no-female-seal-applicants-few-specops.html - "In other previously closed Army special operations elements, he said, two enlisted women have attempted special operations assessment and selection but haven't made it through. One, who was dropped due to injury and not to failure to meet standards, is likely to reattempt the process, Tovo said."
"If so, why are you promoting the transgender agenda?"
If I go to the grocery store or auto shop or hospital, I care about one thing regarding the employee serving me - can they do their job, not whether I agree with their lifestyle.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/off-duty/military-fitness/2017/05/21/new-concerns-that-lower-fitness-standards-fuel-disrespect-for-women/
DeleteNo, what I specifically agreed with is that a biological male who's not undergone puberty blockers or hormone therapy could be an effective Navy SEAL. If, however, we have a policy in which "transgender women" openly serve in the military, then they have a "right" to hormone therapy, at which point they will be unable to perform like a normal man in peak condition. And that's even before we get to adult males who were subjected to puberty blockers.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I didn't use the unit cohesion argument, Beck wasn't a drag queen when he was in the Navy SEALs. If he was at the time, that would indeed, disrupt unit cohesion.
I made the additional point, which you conveniently evade, that this isn't just about "transgender women" but "transgender men" (i.e. biological females pretending to be men). They can't perform at the same level as biological men.
Delete"what I specifically agreed with is that a biological male who's not undergone puberty blockers or hormone therapy could be an effective Navy SEAL"
ReplyDeleteRight, so Trump's blanket ban would discriminate against effective Navy SEALs. Trump isn't banning transgenders who don't meet the physical requirements, or just those taking hormone treatment, but all transgender, including those not even in combat positions.
"They can't perform at the same level as biological men."
In which case they'll be weeded out, just as women are now.
Transgender...a made up word to describe a gross sinful corruption of mind. Although Beck's sinfulness hadn't evidently progressed sufficiently to keep him from being a "good" soldier earlier on, he has now become severely delusional. Wouldn't want a severely delusional person sitting at the controls of a nuked up B1B.
ReplyDelete