Military Vets of another War: on Gender

While the two parties get ready to rumble over Justice Anthony Kennedy's replacement, there'll be no argument over one thing: just how important the courts have become. Republicans and Democrats may be animated over President Trump's SCOTUS pick, Brett Kavanaugh, but it's because they all agree -- the courts' decisions are affecting every facet of American life. And the latest debate at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is living proof.

With the exception of Barack Obama and his administration, there aren't a whole lot of Americans clamoring to spend their taxpayer dollars gender reassignment surgeries. The 44th president did his best to force the issue, insisting the VA, HHS, and Defense Department make these procedures the newest (and most controversial) obligation of unwilling Americans. Then, to our great relief, voters elected Donald Trump -- many, based on his pledge that he would do away with the radical social experimentation of his predecessor.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long. The new commander-in-chief rolled back the transgender policy in the military and did his best to put the brakes on the fierce debate over taxpayer-funded sex changes. Everything was going according to plan -- until the courts got involved. At least two military veterans decided to sue the Trump administration into an all-expenses-paid gender transition (which, if you ask medical professionals, hasn't proven effective in treating serious mental health conditions like this one). Now, thanks to the courts, the VA is under significant pressure to reconsider its position on covering gender reassignment surgeries for vets.

Last Friday, the VA put out its first official "feelers" on the issue with a request for public comment. And while liberals insist that the department is just "going through the motions," there's no telling what the activist courts (which have become quite fond of stripping this president of his constitutional authority) will demand next. The VA did point out that the Defense Department memo on the president's transgender policy "noted considerable scientific uncertainty and overall lack of high quality scientific evidence demonstrating the extent to which transition-related treatments, such as sex reassignment surgery remedy the multifaceted mental health problems associated with gender dysphoria."

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