On his “Secure Freedom Radio” program last week, Frank Gaffney hosted Adm. James “Ace” Lyons, a former commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet who has since become a fixture at right-wing conferences, where he promotes various anti-gay views and conspiracy theories about President Obama making way for Sharia law in America.
Gaffney asked Lyons about Pentagon’s plan to work toward allowing transgender people to serve openly in the armed forces, saying, “One of the things that I just can’t get my head around is what do you when you have to have — as apparently the administration is going to insist — transgender individuals as well as females on these vessels. How does that work, practically speaking?”
Lyons called the plan “pure nonsense” and cited Paul McHugh to claim that “transgender is not a civil rights issue, it is a mental disorder,” saying that all transgender people need is to be “treated” and “returned to a normal lifestyle.”
Lyons then paraphrased the late conservative writer Stan Evans, saying that “the gay, lesbian, transgender lifestyle is nothing but a return to a pagan ethic…which has led to the downfall of previous civilizations.”
“Well, it would certainly seem on its face to be incompatable with a warrior and a successful military,” Gaffney responded.
