Dahlia Ensel
Jul 28, 2017 · 2 min read

People are complaining about how much it will cost the military to care medically for transgender service members. They don’t want their tax dollars going to pay for anyone’s reassignment surgery, for their hormones, for any other care they might receive. We all know why this is the case, and it has nothing to do with budget. But that is not the point.

We all pay taxes for things we don’t personally believe in and hope our dollars are going toward those things for which we believe fiercely, but simply put, they don’t. We can’t direct where our tax money goes; we just have to hope the representatives we elect to govern us will fight to allocate funds where they actually need to go rather to superfluous spending. Maybe it’ll go to education. Maybe it’ll help fund a preventative health clinic that receives government subsidies.

This administration and those who believe in them need to leave service members who are doing their jobs alone. Let them have their hormone therapy, their surgeries, whatever they need to keep fighting the good fight. They’re defending the American way, despite the way fellow Americans are treating them. There’s a parallel there somewhere. There are so many things to focus on right now that are more important than stripping rights of Americans who are literally putting their lives on the line for the country.

No transgender man or woman is entering the military solely for free healthcare. But let’s assume this is the case. Perhaps you should look at why so many Americans — most of which are not transgender — are so desperate for housing, college assistance, and healthcare that they would join the military. And yet the ideas of universal education and healthcare are scoffed at.

Meanwhile, I have to live with the fact that my tax dollars are paying for servicemen who have erectile dysfunction to get Viagra while I go through therapy for being sexually assaulted and raped while in the military. I guess I’ll just pretend that those dollars that are from my very tiny bank account are going to hormone therapy for a trans man or woman so that I can feel okay about this.

Dahlia Ensel

Written by

Writer. Incredibly hopeful heart, unfortunately realistic mind.