During a recent hearing of the House Armed Services Committee that dealt with the latest bill to fund the nation’s defense apparatus for the forthcoming fiscal year, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) got swiftly refuted by a veteran serving in Congress from Pennsylvania during a discussion about efforts to include transgender individuals in military contexts.
Under consideration was an amendment to the underlying bill that would direct the creation of a report on impacts from efforts at inclusivity, with an eye towards highlighting what Republicans claim is a substantial problem. Gaetz cited supposed happenings to that effect in his Florida district.
“I learned this not because I was hanging out in the women’s shower, but because women complained to me about it,” Gaetz said. “They contacted our office with deep concerns, and I could see how those would be well-founded concerns. Matter of fact, when we had one of our force posture hearings, we had similar challenges emerge in the Army.”
Gaetz then characterized an outgoing official in the military as having described the inclusion of transgender women as a threat to recruiting women for U.S. military service more broadly. “So when we get those admissions from some of our senior brass, I think it’s at least worth us noting where this stuff is going on,” the Floridian added. “My hope is that as we move the NDAA to the floor that we’ll go far beyond Mr. Banks’s amendment and that we will preclude the type of activity that we seem to hear from our constituents is a matter of concern.”
So he wants to what, ban transgender people across the military from using facilities that align with their gender identity? Why should what someone’s genitals look like matter so much on an inherent basis to someone else anyway? There’s not some epidemic of transgender people being outrageous towards bystanders!
“If we really care about servicewomen, and there are a few people here who have actually served who are women, then we would care about child care,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) said immediately after Gaetz. “We would care about our reproductive freedoms. We would care about base housing. We would care about the education of our children. We would care about spouses, making sure that they were able to be employed. We would not spend our time caring about who’s using what bathroom. It never occurred to me in my years of service that that was something I should worry about.”
Check out the discussion below:
