Retired military officer responds to MRFF supporter who isn’t quite on board with transgender rights with a very informative and in-depth reply

From: (name and e-mail address withheld)
Subject: Constitution
Date: May 8, 2025 at 4:32:34 PM MDT
To: [email protected]

Hello Mikey, 

For years, I have been a supporter of MRFF, and will continue to do so.   

That written, I carry with me a copy of the Constitution when I travel, and regularly spend time astonished that such wisdom could be contained in such a short document.  Created today, the document would probably fill the Library of Congress.  Evidence of that is how amendments grew in length as time passed.   

Now, that written, as a veteran of the Vietnam War (not sure it was ever declared a war, but it certainly felt like one), as I reflect on my experiences, I do not think of our military as an “equal opportunity employer.”  In that, I am curious how the military banning transgender personnel is a violation of constitutional rights.   

One example of how the military is not “equal opportunity” I got from my nephew, who was a recruiter.  He could not enlist an applicant who was a single parent.  Nor could someone with diabetes be enlisted.  Were these denials also a violation of civil rights?   

What is quite remarkable to me is the rapidity with which the transgender community gained such remarkable influence.  For example, I find it completely ironic that the International Olympic Committee was vehement regarding someone using performance enhancing drugs when competing, but they willingly allowed men claiming to be women to compete in women’s events if they took enough performance degrading drugs. Seems a bit strange, but then, I am an old fart, and believe anyone should be accepted for who they are, but get what they earn.   

Having taken enough of your time, I remain curious about the extent of civil rights.

Take care and keep well, and good luck in your quest to keep our military secular,

(name withheld)

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Response from retired military officer and MRFF client:

From: (name and e-mail address withheld)
Date: May 10, 2025 at 3:45:16 PM MDT
To: (name and e-mail address withheld)
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Response to your e-mail to Mikey subject “Constitution”

Hello (name withheld),

Mikey offered me the opportunity to respond to the questions you sent him.  Let me applaud you for regularly reading our constitution.  So many others, especially our current leadership, seem to have never looked at it.

First, a bit about me for reference.  I grew up a military brat.  My father was a 30-year veteran serving in 3 wars, the last being Vietnam.  I earned a regular commission and served for 20 years.  I am considered a Cold War Veteran.

One thing I’m not, is a constitutional lawyer or scholar, nor a medical professional.  So, I can only address your questions from my own knowledge and experience as well as the logical and pragmatic outlook that comes with being an engineer.

The issue of transgender people serving in the military is a complex one wrought with emotion, disinformation and politics.  Those that are challenging the ban (through Lambda Legal and HRC) are basing their argument on the 14th Amendment, Equal Protection Clause.  To quote: “this ban violates constitutional principles of equal protection, due process, and free speech while simultaneously undermining our national security and military readiness by removing qualified, dedicated personnel from service.”

Basically, they are arguing that being transgender is not a choice (the choice is to treat the incongruence between sex and gender identity) which provides them with immutable “characteristics” protected by the 14th Amendment.

Initially, the Trump administration’s defense of the ban was centered on an impact to good order and discipline, but they couldn’t come up with any examples.  In fact, there are an estimated 15,000 transgender individuals serving today that have met or exceeded all the standards and many garnering accolades and promotions (including to command positions).  The Trump administration has since changed their argument to being transgender (having Gender Dysphoria) is a medical condition warranting dismissal.  However, they haven’t described if this “medical condition” should be considered a disability and how that affects their ability to do their jobs.  They will likely argue that Gender Dysphoria is curable (not immutable) through things like conversion therapy (ref: “HHS Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria”).  Conversion therapy is a religious ideology-based reeducation approach that tries to cure through learning to hate yourself and finding salvation in Jesus. 

Since the DOD has said they will honorably discharge them rather than medically retire them, I’m not sure how their new defense passes muster.  Additionally, since Trump’s Executive Order (14168) decrees that gender identity is not a thing, how would they define Gender Dysphoria?

Obviously, there are medical conditions (particularly our wounded veterans) that would prevent people from serving, because the condition keeps the person from meeting standards.  However, there are many conditions that are not disqualifiers.  I had an officer in one of my units who lost fingers in a flightline accident.  He was kept on active duty.  I can’t speak to the instructions your nephew was given, but I also served with a Captain who had hypoglycemia (similar to diabetes).  The question is, can they do the job?  The service records of transgender service members say yes.

According to recognized, peer reviewed medical studies that began in the 1920s and 1930s in Germany, Gender Dysphoria can be treated and that it doesn’t impact peoples’ ability to do their jobs.  In fact, treatment improves their sense of wellbeing which translates into better job performance if they work in an accepting environment. What does impact their ability is societal rejection and the prejudice and threats that come with it.

NOTE: Given we don’t know the true cause, it is difficult to diagnose with 100% accuracy.  This opens the door for junk science to undermine a century of study that culminated in the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care.  Gender Dysphoria is treatable, but not curable for those who truly live with the condition.  For those who complete the full course of treatment (aka “transition”) only 1% regret it.  For those who cannot access treatment due to financial and/or societal/family acceptance barriers there is a suicide rate 4x higher than the national average.

A little more about the medical aspects and the disinformation being spread.  Despite what the Christian Dominionist Heritage Foundation put in Trump’s executive order, there is a difference between sex and gender.  Sex is the physical characteristics, ‘between the legs.’  Gender (i.e. gender identity), is a mental state, ‘between the ears.’  Sexual orientation is also between the ears, but differs from gender identity.  The first is who to be with.  The other is who you are.

The executive order is also incorrect in stating there are only two sexes.  They think that people can only be born with XY (male) or XX (female) sex chromosomes.  However, nature is all about variation.  Recognized variations include X (Turner Syndrome), XYY (Klinefelter Syndrome), XXY, XXX, XXY, and XO.  There is some thought that sex chromosomes are defined during the combining of the sperm and the egg during cell division, but gender identity gets defined much later as part of a hormone release by the mother.  

Variation is also present in sexual orientation creating a continuum between homosexual, and heterosexual with bisexual along the way.  Similarly, gender identity has a plethora of gender neutrals or non-binaries between male and female. 

Then you can throw gender expression into this mix.  This is defined by what you wear within the ever-changing context of societal standards (male, female, androgenous).  So, a drag queen is typically a male by sex, a homosexual by sexual orientation, a male by gender identity, and occasionally dresses in female garb for performance value, but they are not transgender, because they typically do not experience a misalignment between their sex and gender identity (Gender Dysphoria).

This variation, or diversity, makes the transgender people in sports issue a difficult topic given the gender binary that sports are constructed around.

In 2015 the IOC put limits on testosterone levels for females.  Then in 2021 they changed course and no longer require athletes to undergo hormone modifications to compete.  However, these guidelines are not binding on the individual sports.  Interestingly the first transperson to compete for the USA was Chris Mosier, a triathlete transman (female-to-male) competing in the male division.  I cannot talk to each sport’s approach with the exception of track & field. 

Seb Coe is in charge of the international governing body, the IAAF.  Initially he addressed the issue by establishing an acceptable hormone level for the women’s events.  However, he didn’t apply this to all events.  Instead, he applied it to only the 400m and longer running events.  No sprints or field events were affected.  This seems counter intuitive to me.  Higher levels of testosterone should have a greater impact on power events like sprints, jumps and throws.  This seemed to be specifically targeted at South African runner Caster Semenya who was dominating the women’s 800m at the time.  Caster was assigned female at birth, but does exhibit some male-like facial features.  Likely, she is intersexed.  I don’t know this for a fact.  Regardless, she was forced out of the sport.  The IAAF’s policy now is anyone who went through male puberty regardless of hormone levels cannot compete in women’s events.  The discussion of intersexed individuals and the impact of the military ban and other anti-trans policies on them has been woefully missing from the discussion.

I don’t know what the solution is, but I’m aware that some major road races have created a non-binary category.

To address your surprise in “the transgender community gain[ing] such remarkable influence,” the transgender community doesn’t feel like they have any influence right now.  They are being attacked for living their truth and only want to be free to pursue their own happiness on an equal footing and rights as any other member of our society.    Most would just like to blend into the woodwork of everyday life.  Over 500 anti-trans bills have been introduced across the country this year alone.  Each day they wake up to find new threats, find themselves further dehumanized.  That is not having influence.

The Trump campaign determined they could gain votes if they could demonize and vilify some minority groups that were powerless to resist.  So, they focused on generating fear and hate against immigrants/refugees and transgender people.  Notice they have been solely focused on transwomen, not transmen or intersexed.  They’re claiming they are saving women from, as the SECDEF demeaningly referred to them, “dudes in dresses”.  They see it as primarily an election winner (re: Remarks by Trump and NATO Sec Gen).

Transgender people just want to be left alone to live their lives.  They have been thrust into a limelight they didn’t ask for and denigrated for political gain.  Any influence they gain comes from the understanding by other secular groups that the transgender community is simply the low hanging fruit, the canary in the coalmine, and they are next.  To claim an entire group of people are “dishonorable, untruthful, and undisciplined” and deserving of discharges sets a precedence for targeting, without merit, any group defined by any common characteristic (e.g. physical, religious, racial, etc.).

(name withheld), thanks for writing to Mikey.  He recognizes violations of church and state separation impact more than just the military and the military is a microcosm of our society as a whole.  Thus, he is considered an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community fighting for human and civil rights.  I hope I’ve answered some of your questions and provided deeper insight into these issues.

VR,

(name withheld)

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