It’s already a low bar when discussing the journalistic ethics of a newspaper founded, and run, by a cult leader.

But today the Washington Times quite possibly lowered that bar even further into the ever-swirling cesspool that is the Republican propaganda machine.

Today, in a putative “news story,” the Washington Times flipped out, in rather bigoted and biased terms, over the fact that Kristin Beck, a former Navy SEAL who came out as transgender after leaving the military, has been doing presentations at a variety of events at various US intelligence agencies and the Pentagon.

And you know how gullible spies and generals are. We simply must not permit “transgenders,” as the Washington Times so affectionately calls them (the term is “transgender,” and it’s an adjective, not a noun), to spread their insidious lies to our apparently easily-confused defense establishment.

If one transgender woman poses this much of a threat to the most expensive military the world has ever seen, then maybe we should all just pack it in and spend the money elsewhere.

(You can buy Kristin’s book, “Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy Seal’s Journey to Coming Out Transgender ,” on Amazon via this link and we’ll get a portion of the proceeds.)

One need only read the first five paragraphs to get the full flavor of the Times’ “report” by Bill Gertz:

I actually had to go back and make sure that this wasn’t an editorial — and if it were, it would still be rather outrageous. But this poses a “news” piece?

Oh, and if the Times really wants to go there, the biggest homo-lover at the Pentagon in the last 65 years was Bush-appointed Sec. Robert Gates, the man who personally oversaw the lifting of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. So, if you have a problem with it, go talk to the president you put in office.

Just to back up a moment. While the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military was lifted, a second ban still exists on transgender service members. It was under an entirely different section than the ban on gays. Beck, although only recently having come out as trans, has been doing a lot of very-public work trying to educate folks about who trans people really are. And the trans community couldn’t ask for a better spokesperson than a former Navy SEAL. It’s hard to question her patriotism, judgment, or motivation.

The Washington Times is right about one thing: Beck does pose a danger. To bigots.