Ben Carson has again offended the transgender community…again.
On November 10th we ran a piece on Ben Carson for our Election 2016 coverage “Through the Transgender Lens”. At the time Dr. Carson made some off the cuff statements regarding transgender bathrooms and prison causing people to be gay or lesbian. It appears the good doctor is at it again.
In a reports by MSNBC and Time Magazine, during a town hall meeting on Saturday, Dr. Carson said while he would never deny qualified women from combat positions, he doesn’t appreciate “using our military as a laboratory for social experimentation.” He also stated “When our men and women are out there fighting the enemy, the last thing that we need to be doing is saying what would it be like if we introduced several transgender people into this platoon.”
“You know, give me a break, deal with the transgender thing somewhere else,” – Ben Carson
“You know, give me a break, deal with the transgender thing somewhere else,” Carson added before saying he prefers the old “don’t ask, don’t tell” military philosophy that ended in 2011. As we know Carson has not made much effort with regards to understanding what transgender is. Many in the transgender community have taken offense to his statements. This comes on the heels of a pending decision by the pentagon which will address how to allow the transgender community to openly serve.
It is estimated there are currently 15,550 transgender individuals serving in the United States Military. Back in July, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was tasked with the responsibility of working out how to allow transgender individuals to serve. At that time Secretary Carter stated the military should be, “a place where no one serves in silence, and where we treat all our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines with the dignity, and the respect, that they deserve,”
We did reach out to Dr. Carson in the beginning of November to give him an opportunity to express his views on the transgender community as well as to clarify some of his statements. We are still waiting on a response from his campaign.
