A group of transgender veterans filed a lawsuit on Thursday requesting that the Department of Veterans Affairs start offering and covering gender-affirming surgeries.
Rebekka Eshler, the leader of the Transgender American Veterans Association, stated that the lawsuit seeks to force the VA to formalize in its rules verbal assurances the department has made that it would start providing those services.
She claimed that the surgeries are necessary to lower the risk of suicide, depression, and emotional distress for transgender individuals who suffer from gender dysphoria.
The transgender veterans association claimed in its petition, which it said was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, that “it would also mean that those veterans do not have to get this care through private doctors,” which is often prohibitively expensive.
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ spokesperson stated that it makes no comments regarding ongoing legal disputes. However, he cited statements made in 2021 by Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, who said that the VA was beginning a year-long rulemaking process that could lead to gender-affirming surgeries. The VA will “develop capacity to meet the medical needs” of transgender veterans, according to McDonough.
He said that the decision would enable “trans veterans to go through the entire gender confirmation process with VA by their side.”
In May of 2016, the veterans initially petitioned for the rule change. According to the organization, VA has since held hearings and developed several proposed rules for cost-benefit analysis. However, despite the VA’s current provision of hormone therapy and other services to trans veterans in some areas, the group said that it has not promptly changed its regulations or provided any coverage for the surgeries.
Eshler remarked, “I receive phone calls from veterans who are in such a crisis that they are calling us because they can’t take it anymore and they want to go kill themselves.”
Texas resident Natalie Kastner, a 39-year-old disabled veteran, claimed that she sought surgery at the VA in 2022. She said she attempted self-castration with a blade after the local doctors denied her request. She nearly died when she hit an artery, but doctors were able to save her life.
She remarked, “I did not go into that bathroom intending to kill myself.” “I went into that bathroom in an attempt to fix myself. How many others have done the same but have not been as lucky and have just been listed as suicides? I can only imagine.”
Eshler expressed her hope that the lawsuit does eventually harmonize the treatment provided to transgender veterans, who, according to her, can vary from state to state and even clinic to clinic.
In the lawsuit, the VA is asked to respond within 30 days to the 2016 petition.
