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The Courage of Transgender Soldiers (NY Times Op-Ed)
The New York Times ^ | FEB. 21, 2014 | Julia Baird

Posted on 02/22/2014 6:46:14 PM PST by Salman

SYDNEY, Australia — IT was 2 a.m., just a few days before Christmas, in a remote part of Afghanistan. Eight hours into a 16-hour shift, Ryan, a 23-year-old American naval sailor, was standing tense and alert, watching the footage of soldiers undertaking a nearby mission on a screen in front of him.

Suddenly, a hand clapped onto his back. Wheeling around to look at the face of his senior officer, Ryan knew the moment he had feared had come: His superiors had found out that his enlisted paperwork described him as female. Within three hours, he was on a plane.

Ryan, who is now stationed on a base in the United States awaiting a potential discharge, recently described that day to me. Ryan is the name his mother would have given him if he had been identified as male at birth. He does not want to reveal his real name because his case is being processed by the military.

While the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in 2011 meant gays and lesbians could serve openly in the American military, transgender people still cannot, because the military defines gender nonconformity as a psychological disorder. So transgender soldiers serve in silence, facing dismissal if exposed.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gayagenda
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

41 posted on 02/23/2014 5:46:40 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Impy

42 posted on 02/23/2014 5:49:13 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: PhilCollins; Liz

43 posted on 02/23/2014 5:51:03 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

Sigh...


44 posted on 02/23/2014 5:52:41 AM PST by TADSLOS (The Event Horizon has come and gone. Buckle up and hang on.)
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To: Travis McGee

Heaven help us.


45 posted on 02/23/2014 5:53:39 AM PST by Liz
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To: Salman

Article seems to have vanished. Can someone hit reply and put a working link up? In any case, a guy with a penis who thinks he’s a girl, or thinks of himself primarily as a girl, or wants others to think of him as a girl—that is a textbook case of mental/psychological disorder. If that’s not a disorder, nothing is!


46 posted on 02/23/2014 12:30:58 PM PST by guitarist
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To: Impy; Salman; sickoflibs; fieldmarshaldj; BillyBoy; originofstrength; NFHale; Perdogg; GeronL

F****ing ridiculous.

How’s this: put them ALL in one unit, send them to the front lines in Asscrackistan, and see what happens.

Just a thought.


47 posted on 02/23/2014 1:04:41 PM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: PhilCollins; Impy; Salman; sickoflibs; fieldmarshaldj; BillyBoy; originofstrength; Perdogg; ...

“...I think that about 90% of sailors and marines,..”

Let’s hope it’s HIGHER than just 90%.

The Marines I work with are losing their minds over this sh*t.


48 posted on 02/23/2014 1:07:57 PM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: Salman

I suppose that these days our military’s primary function and mission is to serve as a Social Play Ground, or as an International Meals On Wheels Program.

That would be opposed to the military’s original purpose, to Keep Our country safe from those that would destroy our Liberty and Freedom.

Don’t blame me.

I didn’t vote for this crap.


49 posted on 02/23/2014 1:56:51 PM PST by Howie66 (John Wayne McCornyn...he's just like US! Honest!)
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To: NFHale; Impy; sickoflibs; fieldmarshaldj; BillyBoy; Perdogg

“How’s this: put them ALL in one unit, send them to the front lines in Asscrackistan, and see what happens.”

They don’t care. Wasn’t Stevens in Libya a poof and supposedly violated, post mortem? One would think the libtards would be up in arms about that...nary a peep.

The one group of people Jesus hated in the Bible were hypocrites; we live in world of them. They’re the norm.

Good to see you all again, too.


50 posted on 02/23/2014 4:19:50 PM PST by originofstrength
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To: Brown Deer

If they keep their perversion to themselves and put love of country/love of service FIRST, why SHOULD it be an issue? The ones I loathe are those whose sexual feelings have to be rubbed in everyone else’s face. Keep it quiet, there is no need for me (or YOU) to be offended. It would be between them and God, in that case, leaving me out of it.


51 posted on 02/23/2014 7:08:30 PM PST by dcwusmc (A FREE People have no sovereign save Almighty GOD!!! III OK We are EVERYWHERE!!!)
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To: NFHale; PhilCollins; GOPsterinMA; fieldmarshaldj; sickoflibs; BillyBoy
This just in from the President's desk, introducing our new Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral RuPaul. Cue the village people!

Meanwhile, somewhere, a single tear is falling from the eye of a statue of Chester Nimitz.

52 posted on 02/23/2014 10:16:27 PM PST by Impy (RED=COMMUNIST, NOT REPUBLICAN)
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To: Impy; NFHale; PhilCollins; fieldmarshaldj; sickoflibs; BillyBoy

I...uh...


53 posted on 02/24/2014 8:17:54 AM PST by GOPsterinMA (You're a very weird person, Yossarian.)
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