Tag Archives: transgender

Transgender Army Reservist Sues Barbershop for Discrimination

Kendall Oliver, also known as Brittney, is a US Army Reservist who identifies “more as male than female.” (For the record, she’s a woman, and she refers to herself as “they.”) As noted in March, when she attempted to patronize The Barbershop in Rancho Cucamonga, California, she discovered The Barbershop is just that — a barbershop, not a salon. The Barbershop doesn’t cut women’s hair, and declined to cut her’s.

As noted at The Religion Clause, Oliver has now sued The Barbershop (PDF), claiming the Government requires barbers to cut both men and women’s hair. Part of her justification is that The Barbershop has no “legitimate business justification” for the discrimination, which appears to ignore the fact publicly presenting one’s business as cutting men’s hair is substantially different than presenting one’s business as cutting women’s hair. (Barbers across the country are now gripping their scissors tightly, wondering if they, too, will be required to cut hair they’re either not trained to cut or particularly skilled at cutting.)

Her justification, of course, is that the men who Read more

Conflict between Military Religious Freedom, Sexual Freedom Continues

Update: Multiple news sources now report that 11 states have sued the Federal government for its edict attempting to require public schools to let children use the bathroom of their choice, rather than the bathroom of their gender.

When the homosexual movement began in earnest to assert its lifestyle in society a few years ago, it claimed — some would say knowingly falsely — that all it wanted was the “freedom to love.” What difference did it make to you, after all, if someone wanted to love a man instead of a woman?

Those who dared to call for protection of religious liberty were shouted down as unnecessary and were accused of harboring hatred, bigotry, and being the go-to slur of “homophobe.”

Of course, as everyone now realizes, those “homophobes” were right.

Just a few years ago it would have been laughable to claim the State would force a Christian — a private citizen — to participate in and affirm a “wedding” between homosexuals.

And yet that is precisely what has happened.

Just recently it would have been unthinkable that Read more

Atheist Objects to Closeted Christian Coming Out

Matthew Spence was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy from 2012 to 2015. He recently wrote an Op Ed in the Washington Post entitled “I was a closeted Christian at the Pentagon” — meaning, for those confused, he hid his Christianity on the job.

It’s a fascinating read, both from the perspective of a Christian and that of a government official. It’s interesting to see Spence discuss how he felt pressured to hide his Christianity, the impact that had on him spiritually, and what happened when he decided he wasn’t going to do that anymore:  Read more

Transgender Fighter Pilot To-Be Awaits Policy Change

The New York Times recently bemoaned that it was “unfair” to US troops who have publicly announced their gender identity issues for the US military to fail to follow through with its unstated promise of letting them serve in whatever gender expression they chose.

To be clear, US military policy states those who “identify” as a gender other than their actual one have issues that disqualify them from serving. In July of last year, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter stood up a “working group” to study the impact of allowing troops with gender issues to serve [emphasis added]:

“At my direction,” Carter said, “the working group will start with the presumption that transgender persons can serve openly without adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness, unless and except where objective, practical impediments are identified.”

The working group was to study the issue over the succeeding six months.

Eight months later, the New York Times chided Carter for Read more

US Sailor Attacks North Carolina Bathroom Bill

willing2Last week the North Carolina legislature passed a fairly common sense bill (PDF) that, among other things, required municipalities and schools to designate bathrooms by gender — that is, a person’s biological gender, not the gender they may say they are.  The State also specifically limited protected class status to biological gender.

As with other efforts in this vein, a smattering of companies have implied they may take their business elsewhere in response to this “bathroom bill” that would segregate boys from girls during their private endeavors.  (The San Francisco mayor said the same, though why he in particular is notable is unclear.)

This law also generated an open letter on Facebook by US Navy LT(JG) Megan Joan Willingham, who describes herself as a Sailor stationed in Okinawa, Japan:  Read more

Sort-of Transgender Army Reservist Threatens Suit over Haircut

The Washington Post reported that Kendall Oliver, a US Army Reservist, was turned away from a barber because the barber wouldn’t cut women’s hair:

Oliver is transgender. And with that, the Army reservist in the Los Angeles area became the latest citizen at the center of a recurring American debate: Where does freedom of religion end and discrimination begin?

That sentence just about summarizes the twisted world this has become.

Oliver is a woman who has decided she identifies “mostly as a man.” According to the article, she uses the pronoun “they” rather than he/she.

“They” is plural, for those who are losing track.

Oliver watched the barber turn another woman Read more

US Army Announces Intent to Protect “Self-Identity”

Buried deep in the proposed Defense Department Budget for 2017 (PDF, 5MB) was a little noticed comment on discrimination in the US Army [emphasis added]:

The Army remains committed to ensuring the dignity and respect of Soldiers, civilians, and their families…The Army will provide every Soldier and civilian equal opportunities to rise to the level of their merit regardless of their gender, their race, or their self-identity.

Just what is a “self-identity”? Good question, since it isn’t defined in the budget nor apparently in a Defense Department policy, and it hasn’t appeared in any prior DoD budget. It’s also not a Federally-protected class.  Given the context of current events, it seems likely it is intended as a reference to the Army’s foregone plan to repeal the ban on transgender troops, though the Army seemed to dispute anything unique about this year’s new budget wording:  Read more

USAFA NCLS: Transgenders, Medals of Honor, and Chick-fil-A

The US Air Force Academy National Character and Leadership Symposium has become an annual Who’s Who of military and national celebrities — and rarely does it shy away from controversy.

Last week, attendees were able to hear from, among others:

  • Aaron Belkin, homosexual advocate, speak on repealing the transgender ban
  • Chaplain (MajGen) Dondi Costin, Air Force Chief of Chaplains, on “Go Pro or Go Home”
  • US Army SSgt Salvatore Giunta, Medal of Read more
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