A national defense analyst says it’s pretty obvious the Obama administration wants to open the U.S. armed forces to anyone – man or woman, or a little of both.

President Obama has attached language in the 2017 Defense Department budget that states the U.S. Army will provide every soldier and civilian equal opportunities to rise to the level of their merit “regardless of their gender, their race, or their self-identity.”

The Washington Times reports that the term “self-identity” was not contained in the sections on the other three military branches and was not found in military budgets for past years.

Some observers suggest the term refers to transgender people, and Bob Maginnis of the Family Research Council agrees with that assessment.

“I think it’s pretty straight forward they’re going to eliminate any prohibition on who’s going to serve in the military,” he says. “Now that we have an open homosexual acting secretary of the Army, nobody’s going to say anything about gays and lesbians, much less transgenders.”

That’s a reference to Eric Fanning, an open homosexual who is awaiting Senate confirmation as Army secretary.

The Times story also quotes military watchdog Elaine Donnelly, who is frequently quoted by OneNewsNow. She reminded the newspaper that the transgendered are considered mentally ill and are often undergoing medical treatment, and yet the Army considers them a special minority.

OneNewsNow has repeatedly noted that the American Psychological Association changed its medical definiton from “gender identity disorder” to “gender dysphoria” in 2012 under pressure from homosexual activists.

But even the softer term was disqualifying transgenders from military service, USA Today reported last year, when it said the Pentagon was likely lifting its ban on transgendered troops.

The most infamous transgender in a U.S. Army uniform is Bradley Manning (pictured above), who was convicted in 2014 of leaking more than 700,000 classified documents. He is serving a 35-year sentence in prison.

Maginnis

Manning now identifies as a woman, “Chelsea” and won the right in 2015 to undergo hormone treatment at taxpayers’ expense while in prison. The Army had refused to allow the treatments just two years earlier.

Asked about the term “self-identity,” a spokesperson for the Army told the Times that treating soldiers with “dignity and respect” is a “core value” of the Army.

What’s disappointing, Maginnis says, is that there are generals who know better.

“I have no evidence that any of them are standing up and saying this is bad,” says Maginnis, a retired U.S. Army officer. “It is going to hurt our armed forces. We’ve gone too far. But given what I’ve seen here for three years, I’m not surprised.”

Even the election of a conservative Republican president in November may not turn around the armed forces, he adds.