Southern Baptist theologian and author Albert Mohler has spoken out against the Department of Veterans Affairs for deciding to provide transgender surgeries as part of its medical benefits package. The Department of Veterans Affairs' Secretary Denis McDonough announced last week that the organization planned to health care coverage for transgender surgeries just in time for "Pride Month," saying that the two-year process to include transgender treatment in veterans' health care will begin this summer.
"It is clearly coming as a part of the cultural coercion to say that all medical establishments must do the same. Medical insurance companies should do the same," Mohler said of the announcement during the Tuesday episode of his podcast, "The Briefing," as reported by the Christian Post. "This is putting the clout of the United States government through an organization as central as the Department of Veterans' Affairs behind the sexual revolution in a whole new way."
Mohler not only criticized the Department of Veterans' Affairs decision to fund transgender surgeries, but also called out mainstream media companies such as The Washington Post and New York Times for using trans-affirming terminology such as gender "confirmation" surgery in reporting the new developments.
The theologian accused mainstream media of using such euphemism because of the separation of sex and gender in society, a differentiation that does not hold any truth according to Christians. The terms "gender confirmation" is a euphemism of "sex reassignment" or sex change, which virtually is impossible to reassign sex at birth.
According to a New York Times report, an unnamed Biden administration official claimed that "gender confirming procedures reconstruct sexual organs to match the gender with which an individual identifies" and is an "effective treatment" for these people experiencing "serious health concerns like substance abuse, suicide and suicidal ideation" instead of just a "cosmetic surgery."
Mohler posited that these "psychiatric and political" arguments are made without taking into consideration one's capability to reproduce after such transgender surgeries. This led him to conclude that these gender confirming surgeries are "more akin to cosmetic surgery."
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president added that the Department of Veteran Affairs' decision to fund transgender surgeries was a "very political" one after VA Secretary Denis McDonough decided to make the announcement during a "Pride" event in Orlando, Florida, that coincided with the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting at the gay nightclub called Pulse.
"Sec. McDonough was clearly choosing the timing of the event and the location, the context in order to make a political point to score political points," Mohler argued. "That just makes very clear the political nature of all of this."
WTKR reported that there are about 4,000 veterans nationwide who may be interested in transgender surgeries as part of the veterans' health care package. Transgender Assistance Program Virginia president De Stube noted that Medicare and Medicaid already covers transgender surgery and having the VA cover it as part of veterans healthcare package "gives them some peace of mind [that] they don't have to look elsewhere."
It is yet unclear how much federal, thus taxpayer-paid, funding this will require from the VA.
