Who says transgender people should not serve in military? Not the experts

A recent letter writer stated that transgender identity is a mental disorder and those with “it” should not serve in the military. His source was a Johns Hopkins psychiatrist he didn’t name.

He also stated that President Barack Obama changed the policy to gain votes. He suggested people do research before forming opinions, so I did. Obama was at the end of his second term when he issued the order. A president who can’t run again hardly needs votes.

I also found the lead psychiatrist on the transgender issue was Dr. Paul McHugh, at Johns Hopkins for 40 years. The writer failed to mention that more recently Johns Hopkins restarted gender-reassignment surgeries and McHugh’s position is no longer considered the authority on this topic.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) states “gender nonconformity is not in itself a mental disorder.”

If we dismiss everyone with an issue, then there will be no volunteer military. The Department of Defense didn’t jump on the bandwagon when the president tried to bar transgendered service people from serving. Let’s see what the generals do instead of throwing around old information.

This story was originally published October 24, 2017 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Who says transgender people should not serve in military? Not the experts."