Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks has been making the rounds this “Pride Month” on the Biden administration’s behalf, and it’s a shame.

Hannah Grossman reports for Fox News:

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks discussed the need to create a cultural change in the military at multiple Pride events, including most recently on June 5.

During a DoD Pride event for the Association of LGBTQI+ Service Members in June, Hicks discussed listening to the needs of service members, including LGBTQ individuals, as a Pentagon priority vis-à-vis military “readiness,” a term which refers to the ability to deter potential adversaries, defend national interests and ensure that armed forces can meet their missions.

“We’ve heard concerns about . . . policies focused on the needs of nonbinary service members. Please know our commitment is resolute, just as it has been over the past three-and-a-half years, to continue our progress in full alignment with our focus on readiness and our focus on the well-being of our people, on which our readiness depends,” she said.

While part of security forces on an aircraft carrier, I worked with a guy who very obviously wanted to be a woman — to such an extent that he would arrive on the ship in drag. Even for the Navy, this was exceptional. He should have never been allowed a gun (a single visit to the psych officer “Psycho” would preclude a security candidate from carrying one), and he really should have been separated from the service.

There are plenty of occupations that can facilitate a confused individual’s peculiarities and experimentation — the U.S. Armed Forces are not the place, not when so much trust in the mental and physical fitness of the individual next to oneself is necessary.

Sex politics are only ever a distraction from military readiness, and the deputy secretary’s address at the event proves as much.