The Dangers of Self-Justification
What to make of this? The person who claims “to be the first known active-duty Army officer to come out as transgender” has been indicted along with his wife for attempting to give classified information to the Russians. Turns out he/she/they gave it to an undercover FBI agent, but as with other gift giving, it’s the thought that counts.
But is there a medical angle? The so-called transgender suspect is an army doctor at Fort Bragg, married to a female anesthesiologist, also indicted for attempted favors to foreigners. So yeah, a couple of doctors are involved in stupid behavior, but that’s not too unusual. Or is it?
Henry came out as trans in 2015 – and also married biological female Anna Gabrielian, “an instructor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins” that same year. It seems rather incongruent for a guy to decide he is a “female” and then marry an actual female, but lesbian couples aren’t particularly rare, so maybe that’s no story. Things are pretty murky about Gabrielian: she has two children (“their children”, according to one article, but who knows?), and if you can find their ages on the InterWeb, you’re better than I. She is American by birth and went to University of Pittsburg Medical School. She is fluent in Russian and purportedly told the undercover agent that she was “’motivated by patriotism toward Russia’ and would ‘provide any assistance she could to Russia, even if it meant being fired or going to jail.’” Interestingly Gabrielian “was awarded the Center for Global Health’s Paul S. Lietman Global Health Travel Grant for her project titled ‘Investigation and Optimization of Current Obstetric Anesthesiology Practice in Ukraine,’” according to Johns Hopkins in 2020. And her bio has since been scrubbed from the Johns Hopkins site.
Dr. Henry’s story is also odd, which has to win the understatement competition for this page:
“After I became very ill as a result of a bicycle crash in 2008, I felt very vulnerable while being treated as a patient in the same hospital I worked as a physician. What made it worse was that, as a soldier, my medical records were not private, and when the question of mental illness came up, I felt stark naked. When my then wife outed me to a military psychiatrist, I felt violated. Things kind of blew up from there. I experienced very intense gender dysphoria from 2008 until 2014, leading to the breakdown of a number of relationships, leading my entire social network with a few exceptions to shun me for being ‘sexually immoral’. From 2012 to 2014, I underwent depositions and public trials, because I wanted to continue having a meaningful relationship with my son.” His statement reads as thought the dysphoria became a problem following the bicycle crash, but it is not clear whether psychiatric diagnosis was part of the record prior to the accident. We also don’t know the injuries or post-injury complications, or whether those would have informed any subsequent “discovery” of gender re-identification, or what was his then-wife’s actual role in this convulsion.
“According to prosecutors, Henry told the undercover agent he offered to join the Russian military after the invasion of Ukraine, but was rejected due to lack of combat experience. Henry allegedly told the agent that he believed “the United States is using Ukrainians as a proxy for their own hatred toward Russia.” Per Henry’s, his/her/their wife wanted him to read “Inside the Aquarium: The Making of a Top Soviet Spy,” and goaded him with “Because it’s the mentality of sacrificing everything…and loyalty in you from day one.” Dr. Gabrielian “told the agent that ‘though Henry was a ‘coward’ and concerned about violating HIPAA by providing records’ to the agent, “Gabrielian had no such concerns and violated HIPAA ‘all the time.’” She also explained to the undercover agent that she was not in the military, and that recruiting Henry would give the Russians far better access to military info, which Henry then seemed to prove. Having bemoaned his perceived lack of privacy, he then set out to violate the privacy of others.
The contemptible couple “gave the agent records related to the spouse of a current Office of Naval Intelligence employee and information related to a veteran of the U.S. Air Force… highlighted to the (undercover) a medical issue reflected in the records … that Russia could exploit…also accessed records for five people, including a retired Army officer, a current Department of Defense employee, the spouse of a U.S. Army veteran, and two spouses of deceased U.S. Army veterans…”
If the indictments hold water, what we have to start are a pair of loathsome traitors; for our more particular purposes, we have two doctors willing to sell out every sense of professional ethics for their own selfish purposes, something the entire nation has become too familiar with over the past two years.
“’I find my trans experience has allowed me to relate to people, because all of us suffer, and I could relate to people’s suffering. I’m able to comfort people that feel isolated and lost and alone and broken,’ Henry said.” Aaand here is where the bullshit meter pegs. Was this individual “trans” before the 2008 accident, or did he use his new self-discovery as cover for something else? He certainly was out & proud subsequently, and clearly broke any semblance of the good order and discipline properly expected of a military officer in public affairs. If Henry was so able to relate to the pain of violated privacy, why was he suddenly willing to commit that very violation? History is replete with henpecked men being brought low by nagging spouses all the way back to Genesis; might this case suggest more retained masculinity than Henry was willing to admit (or divulge)? And here we can be only speculative, but might this case even be severe sexual dysfunction being sublimated into behaviors hoped to attain some sense of importance or meaning that was missing?
It would be wrong to smear the allegedly “trans” demographic with the disgusting (alleged) actions of Dr. Henry and his poisonous wife, and for good or ill, the mainstream view of acceptable sexuality has shifted enough so that heretofore non-traditional proclivities are no longer automatically considered security risks. But we are still left with a nagging suspicion.
While certainly NOT all trans- (or straights, gays, polys-, pans-, or WTF’s) are engaged in bad behavior, is there an element in this self-perception that might allow one to rationalize wrongful actions? The plain truth – for which I will here be criticized – is that while gender dysphoria is very real, it represents a psychiatric condition that denies objective reality. The medical community has rapidly surrendered to social fashion and political pressure to support and even promote the adoption of all things “trans” as merely another variant of normal, and therefore healthy, which it clearly is not. It is not bashing any group of patients to refuse to adopt their perspective, however sincere they may be. The push for pronoun awareness on hospital check-in forms, insurance claims, in med school lectures, and on name tags is NOT to express empathy or deliver compassionate care, but to assuage the hurt feelings of those who demand not courtesy, but obedience to their worldview. That is bullying, which has often led the perpetrators to justify abuse and assault. When physicians surrender their professional judgment to bullies, the result is never good. I don’t know what sort of physician Dr. Henry was, but I strongly suspect that whoever had counseled him did the patient no good service whatsoever.
Pat, let me say first of all how much I love your witty writing.
I have a different take on your perspective regarding your statement: “…is that while gender dysphoria is very real, it represents a psychiatric condition that denies objective reality.” When in med school in the early ’90s, I was torn between EM and my desire to be a Forensic Psychiatrist. I became a member of the psychiatric club. One day we were discussing gender dysphoria. I had difficulty understanding why someone born as a male or female would think they are supposed to be the other sex. Our psychiatrist advisor asked me how I knew I was female. I said because I felt and looked like a female. He then told me what if I had the same mind, but looked down and my body didn’t fit what I knew I was. Then I got it. The difference between sex and gender. Sex is what is between the legs and gender what is in one’s brain. Made sense. It just didn’t seem far-fetched to me…people are born with genetic disorders that manifest physically such as Down’s Syndrome or hemophilia or cystic fibrosis. It happens and is no one’s fault. I don’t believe that most people with gender dysphoria have a choice any more than those with the aforementioned afflictions. The overt discrimination and physical risks that come to those who “come out” is not something I believe they are seeking. Dr. Renee Richards(formerly Dr. Richard Raskin) didn’t deny her reality at all. She was a woman in a man’s body. I don’t believe Christine Jorgensen was crazy. She was a woman in a man’s body. The human body is a complex organ..so is the brain. It is not impossible for me to believe that a glitch can happen between the two and the only fix is to make the outside match the inside. I just don’t think that is crazy.
However, I do agree that much of the discussion around transgendered people has become politicized which clouds the picture. It’s just unfortunate that in the U.S., uncomfortable conversations tend to get labeled “political” which, in my opinion, deflects from the real issue at hand.
Natalie, Thank you so much for the kind words and thoughtful comments, they truly mean a lot. And we agree, that this and other difficult issues should be thought through, wrestled, dissected and continually examined by physicians of good will, without politics skewing honest exchange.
Port Townsend Washington is a town of about 10,000 souls, on the northeast point of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Lots of older retired hippies. Look at the fight going on between an 80-some year old lady and the town, and the trans community.
It got downright ugly.
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/02/mountain-view-pool-punishes-woman-for-her-gender-expression-and-identity-part-one/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/04/censored-mens-eyes-in-womens-shower-room/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/10/mountain-view-pool-no-longer-safefor-many-women-and-girls/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/12/mayor-deflects-backlash-over-men-in-womens-showers-at-ymca-virtue-signals-about-trans-rights-instead/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/16/women-seeking-civil-rights-stand-up-to-mob-hatred-and-intimidation-in-port-townsend/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/18/reporting-from-the-frontlines-of-the-woke-battlefield/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/22/came-to-listen-sickened-by-mob-violence-and-hypocrisy/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/25/city-officials-lead-hate-campaign-against-women/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/27/ymca-accused-of-expelling-family-for-objecting-to-child-porn-and-sexual-misconduct-against-women-and-girls/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/09/04/the-dark-underbelly-of-the-trans-movement-what-is-olympic-pride-promoting/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/09/10/clementine-adams-interview-reveals-shortcomingsin-local-ymca-child-protection-rules/
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/09/14/olympic-pride-doesnt-want-you-to-see-what-theyre-promoting-to-children/
“Hen pecked men…..brought low by nagging spouses (?females) all the way back to Genesis”. That is an excuse.
Your last paragraph was brilliant.
It contained a couple of logical leaps, but I won’t criticize it because I completely agree with it.
Funny thing, by the way, I read about this in the NYT a couple of days ago, and had no idea this guy was a he-she because the article never mentioned it. I believe it’s a relevant point, and get angry every time (and it’s plenty of times) that the Newspaper of Record “forgets” to include an important detail that goes against their politics.
On a personal level, I have known a few of these people (both he—>she and she—>he) personally, but not closely, over the years, and every single one of them has been significantly unstable in some way. I would NEVER entrust any of them with any state secrets. On the other hand, I’ve known plenty of mature, responsible gay men and lesbians, so this has nothing to do with whose junk you want to get into, which is a matter of, ahem, taste, only with, as noted by Pat, the sort of delusional denial of reality that we were trained not to “encourage” on the inpatient floor when the patient believed he was Jesus, but that doctors, teachers, cops, firemen, and janitors are being required to “support” now when someone doesn’t like the looks of his or her ugly parts.