Bilerico Has Low standards For Guest Posters

There is a post on Bilerico about "trans" in the military written by a former US Marine Captain Tom Carpenter who is also now an Attorney. Here is the link.

In this guest post Carpenter shows a complete and total lack of understanding about what transsexual, transgender, or even "trans" is and plays fast and loose with certain facts and the life history of someone I know in what can best be described as offensive and truthfully described as "fucking stupid".

Personally I have always been opposed to DADT. It should have been repealed early on and on this subject Autumn Sandeen and I are on the same side. My first husband was a US Marine and he hurt me personally but that was between him and me. Except for what happened between us he was and is a decent man and was highly decorated in Vietnam after 4+ years in some secretive black ops or special ops group.

He told me once after we met and I will paraphrase as best I can.

"When the bullets start flying and your life and the lives of your team members and fellow Marines are at risk, skin color is not relevant, sexual orientation is not relevant, nothing is relevant but survival and not letting your fellow Marines down , plus never leaving another Marine behind."

The reason this even came up was interesting. He took me to meet some of his Marine buddies after we moved to California and one of them, Marvin, was gay and nobody cared in that small group. Marvin more than proved himself in combat and was as highly decorated, heavily is more accurate, as my first husband which meant lots of medals.

I had been told I could simply go to my draft board and tell them I was gay and I would be reclassified as 4 F because I guess I fit the stereotype. Marvin certainly did not as he stood 6-5 and was at least 230 and was basically a carbon copy of my then husband except for skin tone and sexual orientation, Marvin was black by the way. Marvin had a twin brother that was also a Marine and as straight as an arrow. Marvin retired after 30 years in the Marines.

The military was worried about gay soldiers for all the wrong reasons. Being gay did not make them poor soldiers or worse warriors. They should have been worried about these gay men that went into the military to try and beat their "gayness" which was not uncommon like many transsexuals have also done to beat transsexualism.

The issue of being transsexual or transgender in the military are almost mutually exclusive. The US Military and quite honestly no current military can have a transvestite or crossdresser in open service within any branch of the service. They can easily serve in the military if that part of their life is outside military service and they should not be punished for their private time proclivities.

Transsexuals are a completely different situation. The DOD and the US Military has multiple people serving that were born transsexual and have had successful SRS. I was recruited by everyone coming out of college and even in my day they knew all about me. To the best of my knowledge nobody has transitioned and then undergone SRS in the US Military.  The few that I know personally underwent SRS in their late teens and graduated from college and one in particular, we helped this child, is a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk pilot and has made a career of the US Army. They know but do not care because she is simply a young and quite attractive young woman serving her nation. She has seen a lot of combat and is damn good. How she was born has nothing to do with who she is today.

I think having SRS is the key for those transsexuals wanting to serve in the Military. Now let me get to this idiot who wrote the post.

Lynn Conway was not a gay man for 30 years who suddenly decided "he" was "trans"  Lynn was a patient of Harry Benjamin in California and Lynn did what others did which was try and stop herself by getting married and having kids. That went quickly by the wayside.  Lynn Conway was NEVER a gay man nor was Lynn a closeted "trans woman" for 30 years nor did Lynn "voluntarily" out herself. Lynn was born transsexual and after her surgery was a woman and there was nothing "trans" about her. Was being born transsexual part of her life? yes, but it never defined her as Trans.

Mr. Carpenter is a gay man that has not one clue what transsexual, transgender, or even the silly "trans" word means. According to this fool simply by changing the DSM to Gender Dysphoria we are no longer considered mentally ill. For some that claims to be an Attorney he seems rather ill informed. Just a little clue you mental midget, if it is listed in the DSM then it is a mental condition according to the Psychiatrists of the world. Mr. Carpenter needs to re-read the DSM and have someone explain that only when homosexuality was completely removed was it no longer considered a mental condition but then maybe he believes we are all gay.

This idiot seems to believe that if one is openly "trans" anything then it equates to being openly gay and in his pee sized brain means those of us born MTF transsexual are gay men and I can only assume it is because we are attracted to boys/men. Mr Carpenter thinks we are similar to Monica Roberts who is a gay man that transitioned and does not want SRS because quite bluntly he is a gay man while also "trans".  That is a right Monica should have, but Monica is not now nor has Monica ever been transsexual. Anyone that claims "her men" like her 7 inch neoclit is a gay man as are her gay male lovers, and god bless her that is Monica's right but it is not us nor is it even those that are heterosexual male transvestites and crossdressers.

Mr. Carpenter in this one post has continued to perpetrate the misconception that those of us born transsexual and attracted to boys are essentially gay.  Maybe Mr. Carpenter is attracted to gay men in a dress and is confused.

Mr. Carpenter also fails to mention that in all cases that I know of anyone that is "trans" in the military is surgery bound.  What that clearly indicates is that the military considers us women or men after SRS which in my mind is helpful to those of us born transsexual. Mr. Carpenter obviously feels otherwise. Maybe Mr Carpenter has watched too many re-runs of "Mash" and sees Corporal Klinger as a role model but even that would be wrong since Klinger was a heterosexual crossdresser at best but in reality someone trying not to get killed in Korea.

I am sure Mr. Carpenter thinks he is being helpful but his cluelessness hurts everyone when he misinterprets simple facts and describes Lynn Conway as a former "gay man", nor by supplying a photo of Monica that clearly shows her 5 o'clock shadow to emphasis Monica's maleness.

The simple truth is those of us born transsexual only need to be accepted as male or female.  The only "trans" laws that need to be passed are those that do not allow transvestites and crossdressers to abuse them and that law is simple.

I have one simple question for all of them.

Why are you not fighting for a law that defines those of us that have had SRS as a member of our correct sex?

The answer is simple. Just like the transgender umbrella these heterosexual male "trans" people want to also be considered male or female "when they feel like it". It is counter productive to their goals for any of us to be simply female or male. We need to always be "transsexual" or better yet the more inclusive "trans" because it fits their paradigm for their ideal world. They can never let us simply be male or female because that is not what they are and after all the "trans" are the important ones.

Having a gay man tell us about the issues of being born transsexual or even transgender is akin to me writing about gay issues like I am an expert.  I am not and neither is Mr Carpenter. In fact Mr Carpenter is both ill informed and completely inaccurate in some of what he wrote. Then I found myself unable to comment.

My last question is for Bilerico. How could Bilerico let something this inaccurate be posted? Well that is simple also. The T in LGBT is and always has been an afterthought and this post just highlights it all.