Here are the facts about Tuberville’s Hegseth hearing claims on ‘transgender restrooms,’ DEI training
In Tuesday morning’s confirmation hearing for U.S. Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R. Ala., said ‘woke’ policies are to blame for declining military recruitment.
In one example, Tuberville said that he met with Navy SEALs who “just got back from crawling around in the mud and the muck overseas, unknown places…. First week they’re back, what do they do, they had go through a week of DEI training.”
“Both are now out,” he said.
“They give it up.”
But according to a report from MSNBC, Naval Special Warfare Command is not aware of the training Tuberville described.
Under Title 10 of United States Code, the Secretaries of the military departments (Army, Navy, and Air Force) have “the statutory authority to train military personnel and administer to their morale and welfare.”
“Congress has legislated specific training requirements (e.g., financial literacy, military sexual assault prevention) for servicemembers, including training related to D&I issues,” the code reads.
“While certain military training might be required for students at the service academies, statute does not require or prohibit the inclusion of D&I topics, readings, or theories as part of the academic curricula.”
According to an October report from The Military Times, there might be a few other leading reasons behind recruiting shortfalls.
“The Pentagon’s Inspector General reported earlier this year that the majority of would-be recruits are not enlisting because of fear of death in combat, having grown up hearing about casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the article reads.
“There is also increased competition between the military and the private sector for top talent, and private companies, on average, offer higher pay.”
During the hearing, Tuberville also claimed that a general, who he did not name, told him that the military is “spending more money on transgender restrooms than we are coverings for $100 million airplanes.”
According to the U.S. Department of Defense’s current handbook on transgender service in the U.S. military, bathrooms are labelled with only two gender markers, for men and women. And all service members must use military berthing, bathroom, and shower facilities in accordance with their gender marker.
To change their recognized gender marker, a military medical provider must determine that a service member has undergone a complete gender transition which must first be deemed medically necessary by that medical provider, the handbook states.
Gender dysphoria, a marked incongruence between one’s self-identified gender and one’s biological sex so great that it causes clinically significant distress, is a recognized medical condition within the U.S. military.
“For some individuals, gender dysphoria can be alleviated through counseling,” reads a 2019 DoD release. “But for others, the treatment for gender dysphoria may include gender transition, which may involve living socially as the opposite gender without any anatomical changes or receiving hormone treatment or sex reassignment surgery.”
“Persons with gender dysphoria who seek to transition genders require special accommodations from military standards.”
Under current military policy, a history of sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery is disqualifying unless all of the following conditions are met, as certified by a licensed medical provider:
(a) A period of 18 months has elapsed since the date of the most recent of any such surgery.
(b) No functional limitations or complications persist, and any additional surgery is not required.
History of cross-sex hormone therapy associated with gender transition is also disqualifying unless the individual has been stable on such hormones for 18 months or no longer requires such hormones, as certified by a licensed medical provider.
A history of gender dysphoria is disqualifying unless, as certified by a licensed mental health provider, the applicant has been stable without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning for 18 months.
While there have been discussions around coed dorms and restrooms for some military groups in recent years, there have been no reports of this becoming a widespread practice.
Bathrooms inside the Pentagon also remain designated for men and women only.
Read More