Advertisement Steve King compares transgender troops to castrated slaves Share Shares Copy Link Copy

U.S. Rep. Steve King, the notorious Iowa Republican who has stirred the pot time and time again, is in hot water again for his comments comparing transgender troops to castrated slaves from the Ottoman Empire. King’s remarks came during a speech on the House floor Friday after the House rejected his bid to stop the Department of Defense from paying for U.S. service members’ gender reassignment surgery through insurance. “And today, we're here thinking somehow we're going to make the military better by letting people line up at their recruitment center who have planned that they want to do sexual reassignment surgery, know that it's expensive, and believe 'if I can just get into any branch of the United States services -- to the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines; maybe become a Navy SEAL -- and then submit to sexual reassignment surgery and then go from a man to a woman,'" King said. Daniel Hoffman-Zinnel, director of One Iowa, an LGBT advocacy group, condemned King’s House floor speech, saying in a statement: “Rep. Steve King’s speech is absolutely unacceptable. Not only does he compare transgender troops to castrated slaves, but he insinuates that transgender people going into the service only do so to get free surgery. “People join the military for a multitude of reasons, and the same goes for transgender individuals. To group all transgender people together and claim they all intend to somehow game the system is not only false, but contributes to harmful and untrue stereotypes transgender people face that contribute to harassment and violence.” King is serving his eighth term as a congressman in the very conservative northwestern district of Iowa. He has repeatedly made brazen comments regarding immigrants, gays, minorities and Muslims. King is expected to win his ninth term in Congress in 2018 after Democratic challenger Kim Weaver dropped out of the race earlier this year.