Chaplains support Commander in Chief’s revised transgender policy

CHAPLAIN ALLIANCE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
March 25, 2018 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Phil Wright at pwright@chaplainalliance.org or (612) 250-2072, or Craig Muehler at cmuehler@chaplainalliance.org or (314) 996-1346

Chaplains support Commander in Chief’s revised transgender policy

WASHINGTON— Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty announced support Monday for President Trump’s newly revised policy preventing individuals identifying as “transgendered” from serving in the U.S. military.

“The purpose of the military is to defend the nation and its allies, not to engage in social engineering,” said Chaplain (COL) Phil Wright, USA retired, executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “The revised policy is the direct result of input by military and civilian leaders as well as those who have been in combat. Military service members must be in excellent mental and physical condition and ready at a moment’s notice, so recruiting from any candidate pool that has very high rates of depression, suicide, and medical conditions such as gender dysphoria which require lifelong medical attention is unwise.”

“We, certainly, are not disparaging this group’s patriotism or motivation to serve,” Wright continued. “It’s unfortunate that they have a medical condition that isn’t conducive to the demands of military service, which requires the ability to meet military readiness standards and to deploy without ongoing medical challenges.”

“The policy does fall short, however, in that it doesn’t address safety issues concerning    biological males gaining access to female sleeping areas, bathrooms, and showers,” Wright added, “and it doesn’t cover how constitutionally protected religious beliefs will be accommodated when they come into conflict with this political agenda.”