Hawley Presses Pentagon on Transgender Housing Incident at Missouri Military Barracks: ‘Military readiness is suffering because of your progressive social agenda’

Hawley Presses Pentagon on Transgender Housing Incident at Missouri Military Barracks: 'Military readiness is suffering because of your progressive social agenda'

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Today Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin following a whistleblower report that a man is living in the women's barracks at Fort Leonard Wood. According to the allegations, a unit at the Fort processed the paperwork of a biological male, reregistered him as a female, and placed him in the female barracks.

"Erasing the distinction between men and women hurts military readiness and places progressive gender experimentation ahead of warfighting," the Senator wrote.

Senator Hawley called on Secretary Austin to immediately ensure that biological men and women are housed separately in the appropriate barracks.

"Military readiness is suffering because of your progressive social agenda," he concluded.

Read the full letter here or below.

Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III
Secretary of Defense
U.S. Department of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301-1000

Secretary Austin,

My office has received a whistleblower report claiming that a biological male has been living in the women's barracks at Fort Leonard Wood in my state of Missouri. Department of Defense rules promulgated during your tenure permit men to reside in women's barracks. This is totally unacceptable.

Female barracks are for women. But a whistleblower has recently informed my office that the 43rd Adjutant General Reception Battalion, housed at Fort Leonard Wood, has processed the paperwork of a biological male, reregistered him as a female, and has placed him in the female barracks. This outcome is driven by your Department's policies and regulations. Under this administration's regulations, biological men can switch their Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) gender markers to female, which then permits them to stay in women's barracks. Erasing the distinction between men and women hurts military readiness and places progressive gender experimentation ahead of warfighting.

I urge you to take immediate action to ensure that biological males and biological females are housed in the appropriate barracks, at Fort Leonard Wood and elsewhere. Military readiness is suffering because of your progressive social agenda.

Sincerely,

Josh Hawley
United States Senator

CC:

Christine E. Wormuth
Secretary of the Army
101 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-0101

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