VA Sparks Outrage and Ends Gender-Affirming Care for Veterans

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced that it will no longer be providing gender-affirming care and medical treatments to its trans patients. VA Secretary Doug Collins says, “VA should not be focused on helping Veterans attempt to change their sex,” and the press statement cites Trump’s executive order claiming there are only two unchangeable sexes as the basis for the action.

Earlier this month, former VA psychologist Dr. Mary Brinkmeyer resigned from her position, saying that the changes being made in secret at the VA were not ones she agreed with. After the executive order, the VA claimed that things would stay the same while under review. But Dr. Brinkmeyer told The Advocate, “Staff were told to start identifying anything in medical records, training materials, or patient resources that could be considered ‘gender ideology.'” She also said, “The director of my mental health department ordered that every single gender-affirming sign, poster, flyer, and brochure be taken down, includ(ing) banners we had obtained through grant funding to create a welcoming space for LGBTQ+ veterans.” This removal of welcoming signage was her breaking point and pushed her to leave her position earlier than intended.

Now the VA has publicly denounced its trans patients to comply with the transphobia that has become commonplace in this current administration. VA Secretary Collins claimed in the press statement that he meant, “no disrespect to anyone” and that, “All eligible Veterans—including trans-identified Veterans—will always be welcome at VA.” He then proceeded to say that if veterans want to change their sex, “They can do so on their own dime.”

The VA will no longer offer cross-sex hormone therapy to veterans with gender dysphoria, nor will they provide gender-affirming prosthetics or voice and communication training. Veterans already receiving hormone therapy from the VA will be the only ones allowed to continue their treatments.

The VA press statement made sure to emphasize that the “savings” will go to help paralyzed veterans and amputees, even though they go on to say, “VA has not kept consistent and reliable records regarding the total number of Veterans who endured these procedures, the total amount of money spent on them, or the total number of employees involved. Veterans Health Administration estimates indicate that less than one tenth of one percent of the 9.1 million Veterans enrolled in VA healthcare are trans-identified.”

Lindsay Church, a Navy veteran and executive director of Minority Veterans of America also spoke with The Advocate saying that the savings claim by the VA is a, “bald-faced lie” and condemned the decision. Church says that the decision is a cruel one made not out of necessity or care for paralyzed veterans, but one of hate. “The secretary is doing harm to the community and pretending that he is doing something good for the veteran community. He doesn’t have data. He doesn’t have statistics. He just has abject hate for our community.”

As you are probably well-aware of by now, gender-affirming care is necessary health care, period. People who go without the care they need are more susceptible to mental health issues and are at a higher risk for suicide. Denying this kind of care from people has already proven to have negative effects. “This isn’t about medical necessity—it’s about bigotry. They are sentencing us to death,” Church says.