By Rob Maness for DAILY CALLER
On July 21, four House Republicans chose political theater and identity ideology over those fundamentals, joining every Democrat to defeat Rep. Lauren Boebert’s amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have codified President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order barring transgender-identifying individuals from military service.
As a 32-year combat veteran who enlisted as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician, commanded a B-1 squadron and a large wing, worked nuclear operations, and survived the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, I have seen firsthand what it takes to maintain a combat ready, lethal, and deployable force. Standards matter. Reality matters. Biology matters. Mental fitness for worldwide deployment matters.
The amendment failed 212-217. The Republicans who crossed the aisle were Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Delegate James Moylan of Guam, and Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds of the Northern Mariana Islands. Their votes ensured that an executive order grounded in the rigorous standards necessary for military service remains vulnerable to the next administration or activist judges rather than becoming clear statutory law.
President Trump’s order states the obvious: expressing a false “gender identity” divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the standards required for service. It further directs the Department of Defense to prohibit biological males from female-designated sleeping, changing, and bathing facilities, and vice versa.
