WASHINGTON – Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) wants answers from the Merchant Marine Academy after the Long Island institution implemented a new policy that allows midshipmen who undergo gender transition to get an exemption from their military service requirements.
The policy, effective Oct. 13, aims to provide procedures for the admission and education of transgender students and those who “change while enrolled in the academy to eliminate barriers for those with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria or who identify as transgender.”
Banks, who chairs the House Anti-Woke Caucus, led a congressional letter to the academy on Friday raising concerns.
“Our service academies are critical institutions for our national security, not laboratories for leftist social experiments,” he told The Post exclusively. “Forcing a radical gender ideology on young men and women who want to serve their country is dangerous and wrong.”
The new policy maintains that midshipmen “with a diagnosis indicating that gender reassignment is medically necessary” will be treated “in the same manner, and to the same extent, as students with other medical conditions that affect the student’s ability to matriculate.” , complete their studies and fulfill their service obligations.”
The policy was developed in response to President Biden’s 2021 executive order requiring all federal agencies “to ensure compliance with stated policies to prevent and combat discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation,” according to the document.
The Merchant Marine Academy is implementing a new policy that will require midshipmen who undergo gender transition to obtain an exemption from military service.AP Photo/Frank Eltman, File
It also follows Department of Defense 2021 guidelines that allow service members who want to undergo gender transition to apply for leave or transfer to another unit if the person is deemed unfit to serve during the process.
The Merchant Marine Academy’s gender transition provision is based on the US Coast Guard Academy, Maritime Administration Department of Transportation spokeswoman TV Johnson told The Post.
The Coast Guard maintains that “any consequences of a determination that a member is unusable will also be made according to the same Coast Guard standards as other members who are unusable for medical reasons unrelated to gender identity or gender transition. ,” according to its latest transgender military policy. .
Academy policy states that midshipmen with a “diagnosis indicating that gender transition is medically necessary” will be treated the same as students with conditions that impact their “ability to matriculate, graduate and fulfill their service obligations.” Photo by Yana Paskova/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
But Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), who joined Banks’ letter, called the policy “radical” and argued that it would “lead to the exploitation of our once pristine academies,” which offer free college educations in exchange for future military service.
“Leftist transgender policies are not only infiltrating America’s colleges and universities but also our service academies – it must be stopped,” he said.
In the letter, which was also signed by Reps. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), Doug LaMalfa (R- Wyo.). -Calif.), Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), lawmakers asked the service academy why “gender dysphoria [is] considered a ‘medically disqualifying condition?’”
Rep. Jim Banks told The Post that “forcing a radical gender ideology on young men and women who want to serve their country is dangerous and wrong.” AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
“We are disturbed by policy guidelines that allow Midshipmen who identify as transgender during their third or fourth year at USMMA to receive a medical exemption from their mandatory service,” the lawmaker wrote.
“This creates a dangerous avenue to exploit our nation’s prestigious service academies,” they added.
In addition to service exemptions, the new policy also requires transgender students to be able to live as their gender of choice regardless of their biological sex.
The provision caused concerned parents of midshipmen to bring the new policy to the attention of lawmakers, the Bank’s office said.
One parent cited the school’s recent history of combating sexual assault among students.
“The school has gone to great lengths to try to improve security in relation to sexual assault on campus and overseas. Now, this policy is reversing the good work that has been achieved,” they told The Post.
“I worry about the young women who will be forced into an uncomfortable position as biological men with all their anatomy are introduced as roommates and into the women’s communal locker-room style bathrooms that are available at school,” added the parent, who spoke. on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
“Kings Point women should not have to compromise their safety or welfare to get an education at the federal maritime academy.”
“No accommodation will be made for them and the complaint will be seen as a violation of dignity, which could cost them their education and career,” the parent said. “With the nation’s shortage of sailors, schools should not erode their recruiting base.”
LaMalfa agreed, telling The Post that “biological men don’t belong in women’s sports, toilets, showers or living quarters.”
According to a spokesperson, Merchant Marine Academy policies are based on US Coast Guard Academy policies. Robert Sabo for the NY POST
“This policy puts young women, who just want to serve their country, in danger – where they should be safest,” she said.
Hageman argued that given the current national security environment, with wars raging in both Ukraine and Israel, “woke ideologies and social experiments cannot be tolerated, supported, or funded in any branch of our armed forces.”
“Our world is on fire because of the failed policies and weaknesses of the Biden administration,” he said, “leaving our military unable to operate simultaneously in two theaters of war.”
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