By: Laurel Duggan, Daily Caller News Foundation
An 18-year-old female military recruit was forced to shower with and sleep between two males who claimed to be transitioning to women, Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds told Fox News.
The young woman was distressed by her experience but was afraid that speaking out could hurt her military career, Rounds told Fox News. The men in question reportedly had intact genitalia and were on cross-sex hormones.
“She could have basically resigned or stepped away. She could have started over again. But nonetheless, it was an extremely uncomfortable position. And I think this is one of the reasons why we’re not meeting our recruitment goals now,” Rounds told the outlet.
The attorney general of the South Dakota National Guard brought the woman’s story to Rounds’ attention, according to Fox News.
“He had contacted our office very concerned about the information he had received from the recruit,” Rounds said. “The respect that this young recruit should have received and the privacy that she should have had, she was being deprived of.”
The Department of Defense requires transgender service members to use bathroom and shower facilities that align with their gender marker, an official marker of one’s gender which service members can change and does not necessarily reflect one’s biological sex.
“DoD policy is that all Service members must be treated with dignity and respect. We would encourage any troop who’s feeling uncomfortable or has concerns about privacy in shared spaces to work through their chain of command. Commanders may employ reasonable accommodations to respect the privacy interests of Service members,” a Department of Defense official said in a written statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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