An 18-year-old woman in the South Dakota National Guard was required to shower with biological men during basic training, but was afraid to complain about the situation, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said Tuesday at a Senate hearing.
The hearing held by the Senate Armed Services Committee was to consider President Joe Biden’s nomination of Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, replacing Army Gen. Mark Milley, who is retiring.
Although much of the hearing focused on military readiness, as Brown would be taking the top military position in the United States, several senators asked about DEI—diversity, equity, and inclusion policies—in the Defense Department.
“While the service has struggled to meet recruiting numbers, there has been an increased emphasis on immutable characteristics like race and sex, and the department has increasingly focused on new policy and plans in areas like equity, extremism, gender ideology, abortion, and sex-change operations,” Rounds said during Brown’s confirmation hearing. “There is even growing bureaucracy that focuses on these specific issues.”
Rounds said the situation of an 18-year-old “girl” in the South Dakota National Guard came to his attention only recently.
Recounting her story, the South Dakota Republican said “she was sleeping in open bays and showering with biological males who had not had gender-reassignment surgery, but were documented as females because they had begun the drug therapy process.”
“This 18-year-old girl was uncomfortable with her situation, but had limited options on how to deal with it. If she raised her hand, she feared he would be targeted for retaliation,” Rounds said, noting that she also worried that making a complaint also might delay the start of her freshman year of college.
Rounds continued:
She could request to leave the Guard for religious purposes and not be able to pursue her dream of serving our country. Gen. Brown, this is a challenging situation. If confirmed as the chairman, how do you propose to handle situations like this, which I truly believe may be impacting recruitment and morale by placing a disproportionate interest on gender-related ideology?
Brown responded by saying he would “take a look” at policies.
“Senator, one of the things I’ve thought about throughout my career [is that] as you are being inclusive, you also don’t want to make other individuals uncomfortable,” Brown told Rounds. “So, as we look at our policy and approaches and get feedback like this, we have to take a look and see if we can improve on how we approach situations like this. As I’ve done as service chief, as I’ve done throughout my career, if confirmed, I will continue to do so.” . . .
. . . Also Monday, leaders of conservative organizations, along with more than a dozen retired military leaders, signed a letter to senators asking that senators explore Brown’s focus on DEI.
“Controversies about divisive critical race theory (CRT) programs, which pit racial groups against each other, plus demographic diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) quotas that prolong racial discrimination and weaken meritocracy in the military, are demoralizing the troops,” the letter says.
“At the same time, the armed forces are wasting time and resources on expensive climate change projects and alienating traditional families by indulging extreme demands from LGBT activists trying to extend their leftist agendas to children.” . . . . (read more on The Daily Signal)
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