The Department of Veterans Affairs axed gender affirming care for transgender veterans, the latest in the Trump administration’s push to eradicate trans-inclusive policies from the federal government.
“I mean no disrespect to anyone, but VA should not be focused on helping veterans attempt to change their sex,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement.
“All eligible veterans – including trans-identified veterans – will always be welcome at VA and will always receive the benefits and services they’ve earned under the law. But if veterans want to attempt to change their sex, they can do so on their own dime.”
The new policy applies only to transgender veterans who are not already receiving gender affirming care. Transgender veterans who are already getting such care will be exempt.
The announcement triggered widespread alarm among transgender veterans who accused the VA of abandoning Americans who had fought and died in the military.
“We feel defeated,” said Rebekka Eshler, president of the Transgender American Veterans Association, or TAVA. “We’ve served our country, and now they’re going back on promises.”
Transgender veterans “stepped up to serve their country with honor and dignity, but the country is now turning their back on them and denying that care that they’ve earned,” said Alleria Stanley, a 20-year Army combat veteran who receives gender affirming care through the VA. “There is incredible heartache.”
President Donald Trump already reinstated a ban from his first term on transgender people joining the military and stopped the Pentagon’s health care system from covering gender affirming care.
A federal judge is expected to decide this week whether the ban is lawful in a case brought by a group of transgender service members. Last week, the judge criticized the Pentagon for citing studies it claims show that transgender people were not deployable.
VA to start ‘comprehensive review’ of transgender treatments
On Friday, the VA quietly rescinded a directive that outlined “respectful delivery of health care to transgender and intersex veterans,” including guidance for VA health care providers and facilities to use veterans’ preferred pronouns and allowing veterans to use the bathrooms they choose. The VA will now undergo a “comprehensive review” of transgender veterans’ health care, according to a notice announcing the policy’s dissolution.
The VA will now require transgender veterans to use patient rooms corresponding to their sex at birth. “Previously, VA had allowed males who identify as females to share patient rooms with other females and vice versa. This administration has stopped that,” said Peter Kasperowicz, a spokesperson for the VA.