Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Even on its best day, the Family Research Council spins distortion about transgender troop training

The Family Research Council spins a bad distortion about the Army and transgender troop training/

Unbelievable.

Even on a day in which SCOTUS gives a part of their agenda (against women's health and right to abortions) a nod, the evangelical right has to push a distortion about the LGBTQ community.

According to a Washington Update from The Family Research Council, the United States Army is supposedly abandoning training about transgender troops:

Finally, the military is announcing a kind of transitioning we can support! For the first time since President Trump overturned Obama’s transgender military policy, the Army is shifting away from the focus on politically-correct topics like gender and back to the issues it should be concerned about -- like combat. 
In a message no one could mistake, the memo makes it clear: “Transgender training is complete across the total Army.” From now on, sensitivity classes and lessons on gender transitions will be 100 percent optional. “The move, Army leaders argue, is designed to relieve stress on the overburdened troop training regimen and refocus on soldiers’ ability to fight in combat.” In a nod to the hundreds of wasted hours spent on ridiculous topics like “male pregnancies” and “off-duty drag” the chief of the Army’s training program explained, “It was all the other [training] requirements that we levied on ourselves, or we had levied from other places” that took away from military readiness. 
Like a lot of commanders, he told the Washington Times that the trainings Obama handed down as part of the integration of people who identify as transgender “served as barriers to maximizing time… to build readiness and lethality.” Of course, this is the argument that experts like FRC’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin had been making all along. The military is a fighting force, not a gender clinic. “Talk to any service member today and you will find that a majority of them will express great frustration with the amount of time that they spend in these lectures at the expense of preparing for war,” he argues. “They spent all their training time in classrooms listening to lectures on diversity, tolerance, and inclusion instead of the Military Code of Conduct.” 
That’s time our military can never get back. Every hour (and dollar) our troops waste on the social engineering of the last administration is time they could have been on the range or practicing combat maneuvers. “When do you train for battle when you’re bogged down with these politically-correct mandates?” General Boykin asked. “You don’t. You go out and crash ships or get captured by Iranians, because you were never prepared for war.” 
Fortunately, the Army is putting an end to two years of this P.C. nonsense. “One of the things this [change has done] is reinforce to commanders out in the field that you have the authority and responsibility to ensure your units are as highly trained as humanly possible” to carry out combat operations,” Colonel John O’Grady said. And sexual politics aren’t the only thing getting the boot. Branch leaders are also paring down on other non-essential trainings. It’s about time, say most troops, who were overwhelmingly opposed to the idea anyway. With the growing number of global threats, we need our servicemen and women focused on what matters: making America safe again.

Hold your anger, shock, or disappointment for just a second. It should be no surprise to anyone who knows the modus operandi of the Family Research Council or has followed how this blog has called the group out for multiple distortions over the years that the entire story hasn't been told.

FRC took an article from The Washington Times and embellished many details to suit its lies against transgender troops.  First of all, making something optional isn't the same as abandoning it, yet that is the title of FRC's Washington Update - Army Gives Trans Training the Boot.

The Top 10 LGBT Anthems (do you agree or disagree?)




Anthems are a call to order and a way to unite folks behind a message. I present this video with caveats. It was created in 2015 and some may disagree with the songs on the list, whether because they never heard of them, disliked them, or really hated the video. Still, I'm posting the video to create discussion and to send the message that no matter how bleak things look, a community united (even a little bit) can never be defeated.

We survived worse than Trump. We will survive Trump and the entourage from hell which clings to him.

How the LGBTQ community can watch its own back and even win in the Trump era



On this third anniversary of the day marriage equality became legal, I have one message for the LGBTQ community. We need to watch our backs. It's an entirely new environment and after what happened today at SCOTUS, we need not leave anything to chance.

 A court which will justify a prejudiced ban created by religious xenophobia and will allow health centers to deliberately give women inaccurate health information under the guise of "free speech" can curtail marriage equality and LGBTQ equality in general if given the chance. Unlike the cases involving the Muslim ban and false pregnancy centers, we came out of our bout with SCOTUS with our freedom barely intact (i.e. the Masterpiece case). It was like a one-handed Hail Mary touchdown catch  with one foot inside the field of play in the last seconds of the Superbowl. But those who want to take away what is ours are empowered and will continue to be.

What I suggest is simple. Empower yourselves and each other. If you aren't a transgender man or woman, educate yourself on the community. Listen to what is being said before talking. If you are not bisexual, do the same regarding that community. Whoever you aren't in the LGBTQ and ally community, educate yourself on them. Listen to what they have to say. Learn about their struggles, their hopes, their dreams, and their fears.  Understand before passing judgement. Take in mentally before reacting verbally. Build trust with each other.