Attorney General Eric Holder says federal laws against sex discrimination in the workplace ought to apply to transgenders and activists already say they will push for an end to the ban on transgenders in the U.S. military.
Last week, Holder quietly released a memo stating that laws interpreted as not applying to transgenders in the workplace need to be expanded.
“Attorney General Holder announced today that the Department of Justice will take the position in litigation that the protection of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends to claims of discrimination based on an individual’s gender identity, including transgender status. Attorney General Holder informed all Department of Justice component heads and United States Attorneys in a memo that the department will no longer assert that Title VII’s prohibition against discrimination based on sex excludes discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender discrimination, reversing a previous Department of Justice position,” the memo stated.
The memo also included a quote from Holder, stating the shift in the Justice Department approach to Title VII is the latest step in affording equal protection under the law.
“This important shift will ensure that the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are extended to those who suffer discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status,” stated Holder in the memo. “This will help to foster fair and consistent treatment for all claimants. And it reaffirms the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting the civil rights of all Americans.”
An activist group called the American Military Partner Association immediately began pushing for an end to the ban on transgenders serving in the military.
“The Supreme Court and the Attorney General have made it clear that workplace discrimination against transgender people is not only wrong, but unlawful,” said AMPA President Ashley Broadway in a statement. “While the Defense Department follows a different set of rules, there is no valid reason that our transgender troops should continue to be prohibited from serving openly and honestly. The ban continues to harm our military families, military readiness, and ultimately the mission. The Secretary of Defense should do the right thing and immediately order the review of the current outdated regulations that he said he was open to back in May.”
Retired U.S. Army Col. Bob Maginnis has been directly involved in this debate for over 20 years. In 1993, he testified before the Pentagon’s 1993 Military Working Group that eventually adopted the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” approach to the ban on homosexuals in the military. Maginnis also served as a senior adviser to Lt. Gen. John Otjen, the senior member of that working group.
Maginnis says this policy would apply to people who have undergone surgery and those simply in conflict over their gender.
“We’re talking about people called transsexuals. In other words, they’ve had sex change surgery. Others are transvestites, they’re cross-dressers. Others are drag queens and drag kings and people that just cross-dress for the entertainment,” said Maginnis, who believes this is simply the latest item on the agenda for those who succeeded in overturning the ban on gays in the military.
“People, by this description, would be allowed in the military to live accordingly. In other words, sex-specific facilities would be open to them. If they’re a man in terms of physiology but a woman inside according to them, then they would be able to go into women-only facilities: locker rooms, restrooms, showers. The assignment of barracks would be in accordance with that. Then, of course, they would insist upon the surgery at taxpayer expense,” said Maginnis.
Maginnis encourages Americans to investigate the research on transgenders by Dr. Paul McHugh, the former chief of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. McHugh’s work concludes that sexual identity issues persist even for those who go through the surgery, some of whom seek same-sex partners of their newly chosen gender. Maginnis says it does the military no good to get involved in these issues.
“These are confused people, unfortunately, and the idea is that you want to saddle the U.S. military with a particular group of people? We already have enough issues with sex-based issues. Why do we want to proceed in that direction?” said Maginnis.
It’s been four years since Congress passed legislation allowing gays to serve openly in the military. Maginnis says the impact is already clear. While lawmakers and the media are focused on the legitimate concern of men assaulting women in the military, another statistic is also very troubling.
“What is under-reported is the fact that the most dramatic increase has been in male-on-male sexual assaults. The advocates in the Obama administration and elsewhere don’t want to talk about those numbers are very credible,” said Maginnis.
Maginnis and others are also deeply concerned about what they see as the erosion of religious freedom in the military since the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Maginnis believes there is a link between the end of the ban and the limiting of religious liberties, but he doesn’t believe one directly led to the other.
“I think they’re parallel. Certainly we’ve seen it fall (negatively) on Christianity as we’ve seen a change in the embracing of homosexuality in the military. As a direct result, we’ve seen the bashing of Christians who have a strongly held moral belief about what is proper and moral conduct,” said Maginnis, who says chaplains who dare to speak out against homosexuality are treading on very thin ice.
“If a chaplain speaks out against homosexuality, he often puts his own career in jeopardy in the military. That’s what’s beginning to be seen. People that are speaking out about Christianity in general and saying that the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ, they put themselves in jeopardy,” said Maginnis.
It remains to be seen whether Holder’s shift in the interpretation of sex discrimination laws is ignored, will require congressional action to enact or whether the administration will try to change policy on its own. Maginnis says whether it’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ or the push to allow transgenders to serve openly, the agenda at work has nothing to do with military effectiveness.
“They want us to dismiss all our strongly-held religious views about sexual issues and gender issues and accept anything as OK,” he said.
