I need some help here. I am having a difficult time understanding something. Why would a self-identified Republican “conservative,” “pro-military,” and “pro-family ”U.S. congressman serving the conservative Pennsylvania 9th congressional district team up with Democrats to vote down what is known as the Hartzler amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2018? On July 13th, Representative Bill Shuster joined 23 other Republicans in voting with 190 Democrats to narrowly defeat the amendment [214 -209.] Maybe Mr. Shuster has a reasonable answer. I just want to hear it.
By the way, the Hartzler amendment did not preclude anyone from joining or continuing in the military due to sexual orientation nor did it hinder any personnel from receiving standard medical care. What the amendment proposed was a prohibition of elected and taxpayer paid “sex-reassignment” surgeries for any gender-confused military personnel. There are several websites [cf. Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery] which detail how doctors perform “male-to-female” surgery on biological males who desire to live as women. The details given are surely not for the faint of heart. After reading the description, I had to wonder if many citizens really know how some of their tax dollars were being spent.
The amendment’s defeat also means that coverage for the related extensive and continuous transition therapies are mandatory Department of Defense and Veteran’s Administration expenses. A Rand Corp. study estimates that there may be between 2,500 and 7,000 transgender personnel in all the branches of the active military. But the costs for the sex-change surgeries and maintenance therapies could cost the Defense Department several billions in the next ten years. It should also be remembered that troops who elect to have this surgery require months for recovery and rehabilitation. Becoming a “woman” apparently doesn’t come cheap.
All this is breaking new ground for our Armed Forces. Their original and unambiguous mission of deterring war, or winning a war once we are involved, and defending our country and our interests is becoming somewhat muddled. Now mandates to measure the effects of “climate change” and using the military as a laboratory for social engineering and change are apparently as important as defeating radical jihadists. Does our military not have enough to deal with as we engage in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq and prepare for other perilous encroachments from China, North Korea, Iran and Russia?
In the closing days of the Obama Administration, Ash Carter, the then Secretary of Defense, gave the ok on a multi-step program that, in spite of the top-brass opposition, required that our military embrace and incorporate transgender personnel into every branch of the military. This decision was not made on the basis of what will most enhance and strengthen our military. Apparently neither was considered the negative impact this policy would have on unit morale, cohesiveness, or mission success. This decision was naked and unabashed politics and ideology. Partly, it was a payback to the LGBT activist groups. But even more so, it was but another stroke in the determination to transition from traditional American values to a “New World” philosophy bereft of any Judeo-Christian morality.
The first part of the program was to permit those with gender dysphoria to openly serve and to do so in their PREFERRED gender not their birth gender. The longstanding policy that “gender dysphoria” disqualified a person for military service was no more. Every branch of service was now obligated to allow and/or accommodate any military personnel who desire to officially “process” from one gender to another.
The second phase of the program involves the mandated classes for instructing every military unit in the proper behavior toward and acceptance and incorporation of transgender troops into all units. All personnel in all military branches are to be indoctrinated to consider that gender dysphoria as if it is a normal condition and the transgender as a protected “civil rights group.” Apparently the already strained training schedules must not only include classes on killing the enemy, staying alive, and other “trivial matters,” but also, in making certain the feelings of the transgender are never hurt. This mandatory training includes instructing female troops on how to react when showering and bunking with transgender “females.” It is already anticipated that a number of these will not have, as yet, had their male genitalia altered or removed.
Mr. Shuster, please help me understand your vote. Please tell me how allowing all this at taxpayer expense will make for a better and stronger military? During the most recent election I was leaning toward voting for your opponent, Art Halvorson. But I had an opportunity to speak with you for a few minutes last year at a local gathering, and after listening and reading your literature, I decided to vote for you again. So what I am wondering and what I am needing some help understanding is if you are what you claim to be then WHY would you vote against the Hartzler amendment? Please explain your vote, Mr. Congressman. And try, at the least, to do a better job explaining than your aide did when I spoke with him this past week. I need your help because I am surely feeling stupid for supporting you right now. WEN