Advocates for transgender veterans are requesting that a national court expedite the Department of Veterans Affairs’ plans to cover gender-confirmation surgery.
On Thursday, the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School and the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) sued the VA.
According to the lawsuit, rule-making difficulties have prevented the VA from carrying out the gender-affirming procedures it had promised to do more than two years ago.
Nearly eight years ago, TAVA requested that the VA modify its rule prohibiting gender-confirmation surgery from being covered by its health benefits.
A summons of writ from the court, according to K.N. McCleary, a law student assistant for TAVA, would force the VA to respond to the group’s 2016 rulemaking complaint.
“Will the VA give transgender veterans the care it has promised or not?” is a question TAVA posed nearly eight years ago. “These soldiers deserve an answer from the VA.” McCleary informed the media during a press conference on Thursday.
Some trans soldiers, according to McCleary, receive additional gender-affirming care, such as hormone replacement therapy from the VA. However, they added, VA doctors are frequently hesitant to refer patients to outside specialists due to the department’s lack of coverage for gender-confirmation surgery.
Despite the sacrifices they have made for their country, transgender soldiers are therefore in a worse situation than some civilians, according to McCleary.
In a speech given in Orlando, Florida, during Pride Month in July 2021, VA Secretary Denis McDonough stated that the VA intends to include gender-confirmation surgery in the list of benefits it provides to veterans in its health care system.
McDonough stated during the announcement that the VA was taking these actions to combat a “dark history” of prejudice against transgender military service members.
The changes were made on the advice of VA’s own professionals, despite the fact that it will probably take years to fully implement them.
However, TAVA claims that the rulemaking process is still ongoing and has no set date for when it will be finished two and a half years later.
“Enough is enough,” they say. Bekky Eshler, leader of TAVA, told reporters in a press conference on Thursday that it was time for the VA to demonstrate their true intentions.
The proposed law is still being considered carefully and thoroughly, with a full understanding of its importance and urgency, according to VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes, who released a statement on Thursday.
“Many steps must be taken, and they will take time.” However, Hayes stated that we are moving forward carefully because we want this crucial policy change to be carried out in a way that has been carefully thought out to ensure that Veterans’ access to services adhere to VA’s strict standards for high-quality healthcare.
Veterans receive additional gender-affirming care from the VA, including healthcare, support groups, mental health services, and more.
Ann Murdoch, a retired Army captain with 24 years of military service and past president of TAVA, claimed that her gender dysphoria caused her to experience major depression, panic attacks, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
“My doctor made it clear that she didn’t want to discuss my gender dysphoria when I visited the VA for care,” Murdoch claimed that she was treated poorly and made to feel extremely unwelcome and uncomfortable.
Murdoch claimed that she received “life-saving” medical treatment through her private health insurance and had the support of her friends and family in the Washington, D.C., area.
“Things have improved. At work, I was more alert and focused. My efficiency improved. The medical treatment was a crucial component of the overall change,” she said. “I shouldn’t have had to fight for that surgical intervention for so long and so hard. I was one of the fortunate ones.”
Murdoch urged the VA to move forward with its rule-making process and to provide soldiers with gender-confirming treatment as promised.
“I was thrilled when Secretary McDonough initially said the law change was going to happen. For that, we applauded. I also advised patience when people were anxious, but I was aware that it takes some administrative work to really bring about real change. Now is the time for action.”
Army Veteran and TAVA member Natalie Kastner was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2022.
Kastner claimed that despite numerous attempts, she has been unable to obtain gender-affirming surgery due to Texas healthcare regulations.
She claimed that has forced her to consider relocating to a different state, away from her friends and family, where gender confirmation surgery may be covered by human health coverage.
“The VA’s delay forces me to decide between my family, my friends, and my children, as well as potentially life-saving healthcare. It’s an impossible decision. I feel as though I have no viable options to live a full and honorable life in the face of the seemingly endless delay,” Kastner said.
According to Kastner, the VA’s silence has
left transgender soldiers “trapped in a state of limbo.”
“For us, the VA’s failure to offer gender-affirming surgery has been more dangerous than our time in service,” Kastner said.
Trans soldiers are roughly six times more likely than the general population to commit suicide, according to Sarah Klimm, a member of Minority Veterans of America. They are also twice as likely to die by suicide as their counterparts who identify as cisgender.
One in five transgender Americans enlisted in the military at some point in their lives, according to Klimm, who estimates that there are about 134,000 transgender soldiers.
“Research emphasizes that affirming healthcare significantly improves the psychological wellbeing of transgender people.” However, Klimm claimed that our soldiers who carry the burden of work and sacrifice are left in a state of uncertainty and denied access to the medical treatment that may comfort and heal them.
Tammy Smith, a former assistant secretary of the military and retired brigadier general, claimed that the VA’s recent ban on covering gender-confirmation surgery “violates my sense of fairness.”
“This model, which the VA now uses, provides healthcare, and we owe equal access to it.” According to Smith, transgender veterans are now not included in this framework because of their service to our nation.
According to TAVA officials, access to gender-confirmation surgery is overwhelmingly beneficial for transgender veterans’ mental health, and VA healthcare continues to be a major recruiting incentive for military service.
“The recruiting situation will get worse if we can’t get that,” according to Murdoch.
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