Carson: No need for transgender troops

GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson opposes allowing openly transgender people in the armed services, saying it would amount to “using our military as a laboratory for social experimentation.”

Speaking with veterans on Iowa Saturday, the retired neurosurgeon dismissed the idea of working to accommodate transgender people into the military, calling it a distraction.

“When our men and women are out there fighting the enemy, the last thing that we need to be doing is saying what would it be like if we introduced several transgender people into this platoon,” he said at the forum, according to MSNBC. “You know, give me a break, deal with the transgender thing somewhere else.”

{mosads}Carson went on to say he favored the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy adopted by the military for gay members, which ended in 2011. The Pentagon is currently reviewing its policies in an effort to accommodate transgender troops, after the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell” opened the door for thousands of gay members to serve openly.

But Carson questioned the need for such a change.

“I mean why do you have to go around flouting your sexuality? It’s not necessary, you don’t need to talk about that, we need to talk about how we eliminate the enemy,” he said.

Carson did say he was open to the recent decision to open all combat roles to women, saying if a woman wanted to do it and could do the job, there was no issue.

“I mean if they want to do it and they’re capable, no problem,” he said. “If you can’t lift, you know, a 175-pound person on your shoulder and hoist them out of there, I don’t want you as my backup.”