Catholic League president Bill Donohue sent the following letter to the Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy:
September 28, 2022
Lieutenant General Richard Clark
Superintendent
2304 Cadet Drive, Ste. 3300
USAF Academy, CO 80840-5001
Dear Lt. Gen. Clark:
In my role as president of the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization, I regularly address contemporary cultural issues that are of interest to the Catholic League’s constituency. I am writing to you because there is something going on at the Air Force Academy that merits a response.
To be specific, the Brooke Owens Fellowship is problematic on several levels. The problem is not that it discriminates against men—there are legitimate reasons to have programs that are exclusive to men, or to women—the issue is who qualifies for the program. The application form says it is targeted at “undergraduate women and gender minorities interested in aerospace.”
Gender minorities? Who are these people? The form says the following persons may apply: “cisgender woman, transgender woman, non-binary, agender, bigender, two-spirit, demigender, genderfluid, genderqueer, or another form of gender minority.”
Why is the Air Force Academy peddling this fiction? There is no need to call women “cisgender women.” Nature, and nature’s God, have made it crystal clear that there are only two sexes: man and woman. Transgender women are men who for some psychological reason consider themselves to be a woman. They do not menstruate and they cannot get pregnant. If you have evidence that disputes this, please forward it to me.
I am serious in wanting to read the scientific evidence that proves I am wrong. I can assure you I will provide you with the scientific evidence that proves I am right.
The fiction doesn’t end there. There is no such person—in the history of the world—who is literally non-binary, agender, bigender, two-spirit, demigender, genderfluid, or genderqueer. They are concepts made up by academics. They may exist on the blackboard, but in the real world they do not exist.
As a sociologist, I am well aware of the postmodern roots of transgenderism. It is a pernicious ideology that rejects the existence of truth. It is not based on scholarship, empirical evidence or data of any kind. Indeed, it defies reason. To be frank, it is a hoax.
I think you know that what I have said is true. The shame of it is that you have succumbed to pressure stemming from activists who have no interest in the noble mission of the Air Force Academy. As someone who was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force, I find your position irresponsible and indefensible.
Sincerely,
William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
President
cc: Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force
Gen. Charles O. Brown, Jr., Air Force Chief of Staff
