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Supreme Court allows transgender military ban to go into effect


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https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/22/politics/scotus-transgender-ban/index.html

 

The Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump's transgender military ban to go into effect on Tuesday, dealing a blow to LGBT activists who call the ban cruel and irrational.

 

The policy, first announced by the President in July 2017 via Twitter, and later officially released by then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis, blocks individuals who have been diagnosed with a condition known as gender dysphoria from serving with limited exceptions. It also specifies that individuals without the condition can serve, but only if they do so according to the sex they were assigned at birth.

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I've known a few transgender people, they weren't that mentally stable.  That isn't to say that they were mentally unstable BECAUSE they were transgender, only that there a link, in my anecdotal evidence.  A blanket ban is stupid though.  It should be a case by case basis on whether someone is fit to serve, and simply identifying as another sex should not be the deciding factor.  

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17 minutes ago, mclumber1 said:

I've known a few transgender people, they weren't that mentally stable.  That isn't to say that they were mentally unstable BECAUSE they were transgender, only that there a link, in my anecdotal evidence.  A blanket ban is stupid though.  It should be a case by case basis on whether someone is fit to serve, and simply identifying as another sex should not be the deciding factor.  

Yeah I wonder if the public take on trans people has any impact on their mental health. 

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There is a high suicide rate amoung trans people before and after transitioning where the rate stays about the same. So there is some mental issues going on for whatever reason from within, their upbringing and outside environmental sources since trans people make up an insignificant portion of society so the concept is frown upon very highly by the majority of society. 

 

I'm not too familiar with what goes on in the military but I think they want their soldiers physically fit and not pumped full of chemicals so I can see a ban for that reasoning. Anything else I don't care, let them serve. 

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5 hours ago, Kal-El814 said:

Yeah I wonder if the public take on trans people has any impact on their mental health. 

I always find this line of thinking questionable in light of other oppressed groups not suffering from similar. Not that it couldn’t be true, but it doesn’t appear as though the level of mental health issues amongst trans folks sees any equivalent in other maligned groups. Why do you suspect this would be different for trans people?

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38 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I always find this line of thinking questionable in light of other oppressed groups not suffering from similar. Not that it couldn’t be true, but it doesn’t appear as though the level of mental health issues amongst trans folks sees any equivalent in other maligned groups. Why do you suspect this would be different for trans people?

I mean, racial and ethnic minorities have endured a lot of shit, but at least if you were a black kid, you had the support of your family. 

 

LGBT kids are disowned by their family in a lot of cases. They often have no support.

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50 minutes ago, ALIEN-gunner said:

There is a high suicide rate amoung trans people before and after transitioning where the rate stays about the same. So there is some mental issues going on for whatever reason from within, their upbringing and outside environmental sources since trans people make up an insignificant portion of society so the concept is frown upon very highly by the majority of society. 

 

Could this have to do with the stigma of being trans, and how trans people (and the idea of being trans) are treated by society? Suicide rates are also significantly higher amongst gay teens than straight teens...would you argue that this is because there is mental illness associated with being gay? 

 

50 minutes ago, ALIEN-gunner said:

I'm not too familiar with what goes on in the military but I think they want their soldiers physically fit and not pumped full of chemicals so I can see a ban for that reasoning. Anything else I don't care, let them serve. 

 

Haha...the military wants soldiers not using alcohol and drugs? Might need to find a new military.

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54 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I always find this line of thinking questionable in light of other oppressed groups not suffering from similar. Not that it couldn’t be true, but it doesn’t appear as though the level of mental health issues amongst trans folks sees any equivalent in other maligned groups. Why do you suspect this would be different for trans people?

Yeah this is a good question. I’m not educated enough on the current state of the literature to know, but I’ll speculate regardless :p

 

Kidding generally aside, “others” are historically more likely to have mental health issues attributed to them than non-others. Black people were much more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than white people (and I believe still are) when displaying generally similar symptoms. 

 

As far as I know there’s little doubt that trans folks have higher rates of depression, suicidality, etc. But I’m not aware of anything that suggests that it’s not attributed to social issues like a lack of access to care, social anxiety (not the illness, society’s anxiety about trans people), and things like that. 

 

Longwinded way way of saying that there’s historical precedent for treating the mental health of maligned groups of people as something inherent about them that’s got a long enough track record to give me pause even though I personally am not aware evidence to compel me to feel that way in this instance. I don’t know the struggle and this feels like the way to do the least harm. 

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4 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

My take has always been if a person has the desire to serve and can pass the physical and psychological tests required, then they should be able to serve. Plus, the military isn't all about fighting. There are tons of non-combat jobs. 

 

Agreed.  But when you have to start taking psychological medications for mental issues (whether it's because you are trying to cope with being trans or any other reason), maybe the military isn't the line of work for you.  

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1 minute ago, mclumber1 said:

 

Agreed.  But when you have to start taking psychological medications for mental issues (whether it's because you are trying to cope with being trans or any other reason), maybe the military isn't the line of work for you.  

Does the military already do this? If someone is on medication for ADHD, could they serve? I’m not trying to make a point, I honestly do not know. 

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Just now, Kal-El814 said:

Does the military already do this? If someone is on medication for ADHD, could they serve? I’m not trying to make a point, I honestly do not know. 

 

I don't know about ADHD in particular, but there are a number of psychological conditions (and I'm assuming medications) that will either prevent you from being deployed, or even processed for separation.  

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3 minutes ago, mclumber1 said:

I don't know about ADHD in particular, but there are a number of psychological conditions (and I'm assuming medications) that will either prevent you from being deployed, or even processed for separation.  

That makes sense. I don’t have an issue with people with severe mental illness being prohibited from service of some kind, though again, I’m not well informed enough to know whether or not it makes sense to prohibit someone from service whole cloth. 

 

Regardless as it pertains to this topic, painting trans people with the broadest brush possible seems like it wasn’t done out of genuine concern about the mental health of people volunteering insomuch. 

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8 hours ago, Kal-El814 said:

Does the military already do this? If someone is on medication for ADHD, could they serve? I’m not trying to make a point, I honestly do not know. 

I would tend to doubt that. And if they were already in and found out later they had ADHD they would probably be honorably discharged and be given medical benefits for the condition for life. 

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I would imagine that many who grow up different from what’s normal/accepted and either can’t tell their family or get shunned would have pretty depressing outcomes 

 

its not a gay = mental illness thing it’s a gay = different, afraid, and not feeling accepted thing which can cause mental illness 

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