MMAA troubled by efforts to add anti-LGBTQ+ measures to a veterans’ appropriations bill

On June 14^th, it was announced that House Republicans added numerous anti-LGBTQ+ measures during a markup of the Fiscal Year 2024 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill on Tuesday, June 13^th. The Appropriations Committee’s website shares an adopted amendment to the bill from Rep. John Carter (R-TX) will:

• Prevent federal funding for abortion except in cases of incest, rape, or life of the mother.
• Block further implementation of the Department of Veteran Affairs’ Interim Final Rule on abortion.
• Prohibit the implementation, administration, or enforcement of the Biden Administration’s executive orders on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
• Prohibit funding for hormone therapies or surgeries for gender-affirming care.
• Protect Americans against religious discrimination – which is often used to allow health care providers to deny care to LGBTQ+ people and reproductive health care.
• Allow only certain flags to be flown over VA facilities – thereby prohibiting LBGTQ+ Pride flags from being flown.

 

Modern Military Association of America is deeply troubled by this effort to use this bill to actively discriminate against LGBTQ+ members of the armed forces, veterans, and their families. The bill’s passage would effectively eliminate access to medically necessary healthcare services across the nation, regardless of the laws within the state where they serve. This is part of a larger, nationwide legislative effort to restrict health care access for transgender Americans despite these restrictions being consistently overturned due to unconstitutionality in the courts.

 

Furthermore, an internal Veterans Affairs (VA) 2022 study found “when compared to heterosexual veterans, sexual minority veterans reported more problems across multiple measures of person-centered care, access to care, and care coordination. Also, in comparison to heterosexual veterans, sexual minority veterans reported poorer mental or emotional health.” The attempt to prohibit DEI training will hinder the VA’s work to improve the health care experience of LGBTQ+ veterans and exacerbate existing health inequity.

 

This bill threatens our most important operational advantage – our service members – well-being and resiliency. If service members are thinking and concerned about their or their family’s access to health care or ability to access services due to discrimination, then they will not be focused on their jobs, thereby reducing military readiness and harming retention rates of service members.

 

Currently there are 79,000+ Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual persons and 15,500+ Transgender persons actively serving in the military and more than a million LGBT veterans. Ensuring our ranks reflect the diversity of the American people is essential to morale and cohesion, an integral component of military readiness.