We’ve got a new front in the war against Trump’s military transgender ban. As the media loses it’s collective mind, they needed something, anything to try to knock down the very valid argument that the military should not be fronting the cost for transgender transition surgeries and hormone treatments. Well, they think they’ve found it.

Viagra.

The Pentagon spends 5 times more on Viagra than transgender services https://t.co/NtjzRIOsi6 pic.twitter.com/RyTUQzBylb

— Business Insider (@businessinsider) July 26, 2017

Analysis: The military spends five times as much on Viagra as it would on transgender troops’ medical care https://t.co/DZzfwzqp8R

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 26, 2017

There are close to a dozen other mainstream outlets that also ran with this exact headline. Funny how that works, right? It’s almost as if they coordinate messaging in order to present a biased narrative for the public that meets their views? Nah, couldn’t be. Not to be outdone, even the local news has gotten in on the act. A quick search shows that the Pittsburgh Gazette, 9NEWs Colorado, KTAL, and WUSA9, among dozens of others, also published similar stories.

All snark aside, this is sick and a complete affront to the men who actually put their lives on the line for this country. While it’s easy for these self-righteous cubicle dwellers to bring up Viagra, as if it’s some kind of gotcha to smear the military, erectile dysfunction is actually a very real result of the stresses of combat and PTSD.

When compared with the general population, Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder are at increased risk of sexual dysfunction. A review study published online in the Journal of Sexual Medicine on Feb. 9, 2015, found that male Veterans with PTSD were significantly more likely than their civilian counterparts to report erectile dysfunction or other sexual problems.

Meanwhile, what progressives are demanding is quite different. They aren’t asking for necessary treatments for military members who’ve suffered due to their deployments and service. They want “transgender” individuals to be able to use the armed services as their own personal welfare program. Join up, get some hormones, even get a sex change, all on the taxpayers dime. It’s an disgusting joke that the press would attempt to demean military veterans, ignoring the facts behind it, just to prop up their transgender agenda.

Nowhere in any of the reporting is there an admittance of why Viagra is paid for by the military. There’s no breakdown of the medical issues at play and causes. There’s no qualification that such spending goes to over one hundred thousand active and reserve duty men, while transgender treatments would be eligible to a few thousand at most. To add to the per capita point, the actual number of transgenders who would need “treatment” are even lower, as many will want to remain deploy-able, transition after active duty, or (gasp) not transition at all. How the costs are spread would seem like an important bit of context in this discussion, yet it’s ignored.

Furthermore, the military already denies entrance or discharges members for any number of situations due to costs. Denying transgender individuals on the same basis is perfectly reasonable. My brother-in-law is currently leaving the Air Force because they do not want to pay for a back surgery. In the progressive world, transgender concerns take precedence over his four years of service.

This is all a step too far. It seems mundane because Viagra has been the butt of many jokes, but this isn’t a joke. PTSD isn’t a joke. Combat stress isn’t a joke. For the press to go down this road of ridiculous comparisons is disrespectful and once again shows that they care nothing for the actual men and women serving. It’s always been about politics and social engineering. This is just another example.