The Trump administration is denying life-saving health care transgender veterans.
One year after President Trump’s reckless and baseless attempt to ban transgender troops from the military, the administration is now trying to deny life-saving health care to veterans because they are transgender.
In response to a lawsuit, the Department of Veteran Affairs is being forced to review its outdated ban on surgical care for transgender veterans. But in considering changes to this policy, the VA invoked the administration’s report attempting to justify Trump’s ban on transgender troops - a report that was thoroughly debunked by American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the leadership of the entire medical community.
That report’s lead author was reportedly none other than Robert Wilkie, whom the Senate just confirmed to lead as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. While the VA must review public comments, advocates and veterans are demanding the VA remove this discriminatory exclusion.
Harper Jean Tobin, director of policy for the National Center for Transgender Equality, gave the following response:
“A year after President Trump decided transgender troops are somehow unfit to serve, he’s now set to decide they are undeserving of life-saving health care. This exclusion is an arbitrary barrier based on prejudice, not science. It is actively denying veterans health care recommended by their doctors, and enforcing the same kind of stigma behind the ban on transgender troops. No government official - not Donald Trump, not Mike Pence, not Robert Wilkie - should be allowed to use dogma and hatred to block veterans from the care they have earned and that their doctors say they need.”
