Harm to LGBTQ+ Just Trying to Serve their Country

Legislation and discriminatory practices that justify hate and persecution. The bans on transgender and LGBT individuals contribute to a sense of enduring discrimination, fear, and harassment for all minority individuals in the military. The stress LGBTQ+ face harms the military because it’s service members are harmed. These bans also do not support inclusiveness. It separates LGBTQ+ and prevents acceptance and toleration of all people in the military.

Healthcare

One study found a dramatic difference in health issues for LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ individuals in civilians. Due to DADT being repealed only recently, some are looking to non-service members to predict the differences in health care needs. “Studies of LGBT civilians from the general population indicate that there are important health differences between LGBT civilians and non-LGBT civilians. In civilian studies, LGBT individuals consistently show increased stress and psychological vulnerability when compared to their nonLGBT peers Specifically, LGBT civilians have higher rates of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance use and abuse compared to non-LGBT individuals.”2  That being said, “When it comes to health, men are the weaker sex.” 3 One study found “Black, Hispanic, and other/multiple race veterans reported much worse health than White veterans.” 4 Factors in life, in biology, differences in socially accepted behavior and discrimination all affect the health of everyone in America. By arguing that LGBTQ+ members are more at risk for certain diseases seems weak compared to this evidence. Saying White men shouldn’t serve because they are at higher risk to “become alcoholics, or to have bladder cancer.”5 seems like a ridiculous notion to many. Every military service member can have multiple health issues, just because they are different does not mean that they will cost the military a dramatic amount of money. There are also plenty of studies done that have evidence that shows LGBTQ+ individuals have no extreme differences in medical health. This shows that whatever differences may exist are not so great that it would cause an extensive gap between LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+

Unit Cohesion

As for unit cohesion, one study found that when there is acceptance within LGBTQ+ groups there are positive results and unit trust. When there is harassment, however, it “was negatively associated with social
cohesion”(Goldbach). Instead of changing negative attitudes toward LGBTQ+, many leaders, legislators, and civilians decided LGBTQ+ individuals had no place in the military. At a glance, one can think this is a logical conclusion and that bans have a function. But, now let’s talk about women. Women have always been in the military, but in different roles than men. They were nurses, prostitutes, and washerwomen until world war 1 when women were allowed to fight.  In World War 2, there was such a need for service members, the united states allowed women to actually enlist by 1943. Women, African Americans, LGBTQ+ individuals, and any other minority in the military were just as crucial to the war efforts as their white male peers.

Conclusion

Due to the vast amount of data against the justification of LGBTQ+ bans in the military, all legislation supporting said bans should be repealed. It causes harm to the LGBTQ+ community, minorities, and the military. There is no reason LGBTQ+ individuals should be restricted and the bans cause more harm than anything.

1 Goldbach, Jeremy T., and Carl Andrew Castro. “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Service Members: Life After Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Current Psychiatry Reports, 2016. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s11920-016-0695-0.

2/ 4 Harvard Health Publishing. “Mars vs. Venus: The Gender Gap in Health.” Harvard Health.  Accessed April 14, 2020. https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/mars-vs-venus-the-gender-gap-in-health

3 Sheehan, Connor M, Robert A Hummer, Brenda L Moore, Kimberly R Huyser, and John Sibley Butler. “Duty, Honor, Country, Disparity: Race/Ethnic Differences in Health and Disability among Male Veterans.” Population research and policy review. U.S. National Library of Medicine, December 2015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4714796/.