Trump Gets One Thing Right

I am not remotely a fan of Donald Trump.  I went in to the Presidential election expecting, as much as I hated the  idea, that Hillary Clinton would be elected.  I didn't vote for either, choosing to writing in Bernie Sanders, who I knew would not win, but who I found less objectionable than either of the two clowns running at the top.   Early on during the returns, I was mildly surprised to see Trump take an early lead.  I figured it was just a fluke.  Then as the night went on, it was obvious that something very odd was happening.  Finally, it became clear that Trump would likely win.  As I had figured, I would be unhappy no matter what happened, and I was right.  The next morning, he was the winner.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a Trump presidency.  I figured he would overturn some of the things Obama had done.  Some of Obama's changes I approved of, some I thought were absurd.  Especially his extremist views on transgender issues.

One of the worst of those decisions was his allowing openly transgender personnel to serve in the military.  The military is not a place for social experimentation.  Its primary purpose is to provide for the defense of our nation.  It requires disciplined, functional troops, who are ready to stand firm against all enemies of our nation.  They need to be able to work together and form bonds that allow them to operate as a well prepared unit.

Allowing males to enlist as women, and be in women's barracks, where there is inevitable nudity, or likewise to allow females to serve in men's unit is not acceptable.  It is simply not fair to those subjected to such an intrusion.  For someone who is actually transsexual, such a situation is unthinkable.  But we are not talking about transsexuals here.  We are talking about men, who enjoy living as women, but who wish to retain a strong connection to being a man.  They may in some cases, even choose to go so far as to have SRS, but they still want people to know they were born male.  Or, they are females who want to live as men, but have everyone know they were born female.

It would have been one thing if Obama has instituted a policy similar to "don't ask, don't tell," where transgender personnel would have been allowed to serve, but would be required to not engage in certain behaviors on duty, on base, and such.  But instead, they were allowed to serve as their "target" gender, as indicated in this rather extreme policy statement:

0.                        Policy Highlights
   

• Service members with a diagnosis from a military medical provider indicating that gender transition is medically necessary will be provided medical care and treatment for the diagnosed medical condition, in the same manner as other medical care and treatment. 

• Gender transition in the military begins when a Service member receives a diagnosis from a military medical provider indicating that gender transition is medically necessary, and concludes when the Service member’s gender marker is changed in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) and the Service member serves and is recognized in the preferred gender. 

• At that point, the Service member is responsible for meeting all applicable military standards in the preferred gender and will use berthing, bathroom, and shower facilities associated with their gender. 

• Any discrimination against a Service member based on their gender identity is sex discrimination and may be addressed through the Department’s equal opportunity channels. 

 In the past, I suggested that transsexuals who had undergone diagnosis, and SRS could be allowed to serve as long as they were not open about their past history.  But that is nowhere near what this policy provide for.  It should also be noted that among people who identify as transgender, they do not generally have a medical condition as such.  They are seeking a lifestyle change, not an actual medical transition.  Unfortunately, far too many therapists are quick to grant them a claim to being transsexual, even when it clear that they are not, because of political pressure from activists who seek to use transsexuals to further their own demands.

Trump has, during his time in office, exhibited bizarre behavior, a general lack of understanding of history, and the role of the president, and an appalling lack of ethics, but in regards to this issue, he is doing the right thing.

How Arrogant Can One Transgender Extremist Get?

I have seen Mr. "Autumn" Sandeen post some pretty arrogant stuff.  I mean, he loves to style himself as the "transgender" equivalent of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  But he has reached a new low...  He is now comparing himself to Private Manning.

Now, I am not interested in debating whether Private Manning is a hero, or a villain.  That is not the purpose of this blog.  But I will note that Sandeen, before Manning expressed the desire to now be know as "Chelsea" was pretty much on the villain side, and it should be noted, he took a lot of flack for it.  Now, he wants to elevate himself to the same level.

In his most recent post on LGBT Weekly, Mr. Sandeen engages in absurd self-aggrandizement as he boasts of how he took what he implies were great personal risks during his exhibitionistic performance at the White House fence in protest of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  Well, at least that is what he thought he was saying when he posted this delightful Freudian slip:

But, having my belief about my own actions regarding those protests I participated in, I had no illusion that what I was doing was violating the explicit direction of Navy uniform regulations. That regulation states “Members of the Navy and Marine Corps, including retired members and members of reserve components are prohibited from wearing uniforms of the naval service while attending or participating in a demonstration, assembly or activity knowing that a purpose of the demonstration, assembly or activity supports personal or partisan views on political, social, economic or religious issues.” And, I knew there could be serious consequences to violating military law.

I assume what he meant to claim was that he was "aware" that his actions might well result in serious consequences, though what he actually says is the clearly more truthful idea that he knew, quite well, that they simply wouldn't.  Simply put, there is no way that the Obama administration was going to send Mr. Sandeen to military prison, or worse, strip him of his military pension.  It simply would not be a very smart move politically. 

Mr. Sandeen goes on to puff himself up by talking about how he would have faced the same problems as Private Manning, had he gone to military prison (like that was even a remote chance).

To be honest, at this point, I really have to pity Mr. Sandeen.  He clearly is desperate to puff himself up, and has reached the point where he is now more than willing to engage in the most ridiculous of self contradictory claims.  Two weeks ago, he trashed Private Manning, and now he compares himself to that same person in an obvious attempt to ride the wave of publicity.

Sandeen Crashes and Burns

The extremely massive ego of "Autumn" Sandeen has finally caught up with him.  He has finally pushed it too far.  Mr. Sandeen, is well known for his exhibitionistic behavior at the White House fence (he joined 12 protesters against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"  who chained themselves to the White House fence...with Mr. Sandeen wearing a female naval uniform, even though he served as a man, and remains quite male).  


Well, in his latest post, he tries to compare himself to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez. Oh, and he tries to beg people to help provide money so he, and his fellow protesters, can afford to fly back to Washington for their trial.  After all, he says, he has already paid a heavy human cost, having gone to jail for his action.  Well, at least having been held for a short period, like any political protester.  I doubt he was there more than a few hours.


I find it interesting that he whines about how he, and his fellow protesters, are all being charged under the the Code of Federal Regulations rather than the usual local law used in these cases.  Mr. Sandeen does not specify what the actual charge is, but complains that it will result in the protesters having a "Federal conviction."  I have to wonder...  It is against Federal law to wear a military uniform unless one is a member of the military, or a properly retired member of the military.  And even then, it is illegal to wear it for the purpose of political protest  Nevermind what the law would say about a male wearing a female Naval uniform, even if said male is retired (Mr. Sandeen claims a service related mental disability).


Of course, at the time that Mr. Sandeen joined the protest, he made a lot of statements about how he knew that repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell would not affect transgender people who want to "serve openly."  As soon as the repeal was approved, he started demanding that it be extended to include transgender people.  Which, of course, is an outrageous proposal.


But the truly funny part of the whole thing is the fact that after Mr. Sandeen's self-aggrandizing post, he has only had one response...telling him that the person responding would consider supporting the protesters, except for the fact that Mr. Sandeen was one of them.  As the person said, they will not be supporting Mr. Sandeen's narcissism.

And Now Comes the Silliness...

Yesterday, Congress finally voted to begin the process of ending the ban on people who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual serving in the military.  Since such people have served over the years, usually while hiding their sexuality, this will hopefully be a reasonable change.  But, now comes the cries from the transgender extremists to also be allowed to serve.  Hopefully, they will  never succeed.


Imagine the disaster that allowing openly transgender people to serve in the military.  Imagine the nightmare of having men demanding to wear female uniforms, and to be allowed to reside in women's quarters.  Or vice versa.  Not to mention that more than a few people who identify as transgender often suffer from mental health issues ranging from relatively mild to extremely severe,


I figured this was coming.  Even though in the past, even the most extreme would admit that doing away with DADT would do nothing for transgender people who wanted to serve, I suspected that once things change for gays and lesbians, the kooks would start demanding more.


I see nothing wrong with transsexuals who have completed transition, including full genital surgery, possibly being allowed to serve if otherwise qualified, but allowing transgender people to serve openly is outrageous, and would bring serious disruption to the military.


Two of the most extremist of the transgender activists, "Monica" Helms, and "Autumn" Sandeen, are now demanding that men be allowed to serve while pretending to be women.  This is an absurd effort, but as has long been obvious, there is no restraint on their silliness.

Incredible Stupidity

Well, it seems that "Autumn" Sandeen has decided to abuse the changes to the rules concerning passports, while playing dumb (or is he really that stupid) about why his new passport will be limited to two years.


Simply put, the government has had a long standing policy that allows those who are traveling overseas for SRS to obtain a temporary two year passport for the purpose of obtaining that surgery.  Apparently, the rules have been loosened a bit to remove the specific requirement that one be traveling for surgery, but still there remains a two year limit for those who have not yet had SRS, clearly to allow them to easily travel for that purpose.


Well, of course the radical transgender crowd, like Sandeen, think this gives them license to obtain an ID that is often allowed in place of a birth certificate.  So, now Mr. Sandeen can pretend to be a natal woman, while remaining an intact man.  


In response to a question, he claims to not know why his deceptive passport will be limited to two years.  The answer is simple...it is to allow him to travel to a place like Thailand to have SRS.  But, of course, that is not what Mr. Sandeen plans to do.  He just wants to have something that falsely claims he is a woman...another chance to revel in his transgender status, imagining himself to be a real woman....with a penis.


Mr. Sandeen needs to realize that a passport that claims he is a female will not make him a woman.  It will just make him a man who is lying.  And when his two years are up, his passport will end, and he will very possibly find that is it.  That he will have had his little fun, but there will be no more.


I fully support the idea of allowing a temporary change to allow for travel for surgery, but all Mr. Sandeen's abuse of this will do is give conservatives more ammunition to oppose even that small favor.


Then again, Mr. Sandeen refuses to see that his antics hurt the chances for repeal of "don't ask. don't tell."  Some of the extremists are even starting to push for the repeal of the ban on transgender people being allowed to openly serve.  That is an absurd suggestion.  While I can where people who have completed transition, and have had full surgery, might be able to serve, the idea of someone like Sandeen demanding to be allowed to serve as a female, while retaining his penis, is absurd.  There really are limits, though extremists like Sandeen and his ilk refuse to acknowledge them.


UPDATE


It appears that Mr. Sandeen has decided that he misread the new law.  He now plans to fraudulently claim that he has completed his transition, and that he is fully female.  Apparently the kooks at NCTE talked to Obama administration into wording things vaguely enough that people can claim that they are fully transitioned when they are not.  Never mind that such a change will almost certainly result in a nasty backlash that will wind up hurting true transsexuals when a more conservative president is elected.  They will have had their short season of fun pretending to be women, and real women will, again, suffer.

Huh?

"Autumn" Sandeen has an article on Pam's House Blend called "Conflating Gay And Trans -- And More Religious Right Fear Mongering About It."  I have to say, I am a bit puzzled.


I mean, isn't that the whole idea?  I mean, what did the transgender extremists think would happen when they forcibly joined LGB to T?  Did they think that the Religious Right wouldn't assume that "transgender" was just another form of gay?


Oh, I know the idea is supposed to be something about "sexual minorities," which is why some try to add even more letters.  Like "I" for intersexed, and two "Q's" for queer and questioning.  And some want to add another "T" for transsexual.  And an "A" for asexual, an "O" for omnisexual, and a "P" for pansexual.  I can think of a few other "sexual minorities that would not be so welcome, so that idea sort of falls apart quickly.


But back to the point.  What did Sandeen think was going to happen when he dressed up in Navy drag and chained himself to the White House fence in support of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  Even he is not so extremist that he thinks that trying to get "transgender people" able to serve openly is a valid cause.  He was there is support of gays, lesbians and bisexuals.  That sort of makes it more likely that he will be perceived as a gay male by many.


And then he has the audacity to wonder why people with HBS want no part of transgender?  We simply want to live our lives as women.  Not as men who become women, not as women who used to be women, and certainly not perceived as gay men who just got carried away.  But that is exactly how the transgender movement causes us to be perceived. 

A Travesty in Washington

Last week, transgender activist "Autumn" Sandeen was arrested as one of the so-called "White House Six," six protesters who chained themselves to the White House fence in protest of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  Along with the others, who were all gay or lesbian, Mr. Sandeen was arrested.  Now he is whining about how he was treated in jail.

Now, Mr. Sandeen, who is a retired member of the United States Navy was wearing a female naval uniform, even though his entire service in the Navy was served as a man.  Mr. Sandeen is one of those people who decided rather late in life, after a successful career as a man, that he really wants to be a woman.

There was apparently some confusion on the part of the White House police as to Mr. Sandeen's sex.  He informed them that he was transgender, and that he had "female breasts and male genitalia."  Apparently the police first misclassified him as female.  Then, when they realized their mistake, they change his ID bracelet to one that correctly said "M."  Of course, Mr. Sandeen, who is of the mind that simply claiming to be a woman makes one fully, and completely female, was terribly upset.

Now this brings us to the two problems central to this whole issue.

First off, transgender people simply do not have a place in the military.  I see no problems with a post-op transsexual, who is otherwise qualified, being allowed to enlist in the military.  But I am sorry, there is no place for someone who is pre-op, non-op, etc.  They are simply not going to fit into the military's purposes.  They will be disruptive, period.  I mean, there are limits. 

Second, Mr. Sandeen, in spite of all his protests and whining is still, physically a male.  He has no right to expect to be placed in a female section of the jail.  At best, if he is in a jurisdiction that allows for such, he might be placed in a special section with other transgender people who are still physically male.  Possibly he might be placed in isolation.  But he has no basis to expect to be incarcerated with females.

This is the absurdity of the transgender movement.  They expect society to completely suspend reality with regards to their situation.  There is rarely much, if any privacy in a jail or prison.  In holding areas, prisoners are forced to share a single toilet, with no privacy at all.  If one is there long enough to be required to take a shower, nudity is inevitable.  Mr. Sandeen might well expect the women who would be forced to tolerate his presence to ignore his penis, but that is unreasonable.

And Mr. Sandeen will simply have to face the simple fact that many, especially veterans, might well be displeased with his wearing a female uniform.  At the very least, he should show some regard for the feelings of others, but no, that is not going to happen either.