Nearly 300 groups urge Congress to reject anti-trans provision in defense spending bill

peaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) (C), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) (R) and Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) hold a news conference following a caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on January 30, 2024 in Washington, DC.

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) (C), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) (R) and Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) hold a news conference following a caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on January 30, 2024 in Washington, DC.

"This legislation has been hijacked by Speaker Mike Johnson and anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers," says Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson.

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Nearly 300 advocacy groups have joined to urge Congress to reject a portion of the National Defense Authorization Act that would bar the military’s health insurance plan from paying for gender transition care for children of service members.

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The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have released text of a final version of the must-pass military spending bill. The language agreed to includes a portion originally included in the GOP-controlled House version that would prohibit TriCare coverage of any medical intervention for “gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization” for anyone under age 18. That would mean an end to care for any military families using TriCare as their health insurance.

Monday, the House Committee on Rules advanced that version to the full House. The vote came along party lines, with all Republicans supporting the anti-transgender provision and all Democrats opposed. The committee rejected an amendment from Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania that would strike that section from the bill.

Related: House Republicans are trying to ban gender-affirming care for youth in new military budget

“This legislation has been hijacked by Speaker Mike Johnson and anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers, who have chosen to put our national security and military readiness at risk for no other reason than to harm the transgender kids of military families,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a press release. “The decisions that families and doctors make for the wellbeing of their transgender kids are important and complex, especially so for military families, and the last thing they need is politicians stepping in and taking away their right to make those decisions. When this comes up in the full House, lawmakers need to vote down this damaging and dehumanizing legislation.”

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“All people, including military families, deserve access to comprehensive health care services, free from discriminatory barriers that only serve to score political points,” the letter reads. “Military families with transgender youth have made it clear that this provision will force them to choose between their military careers and providing health care for their loved ones. At a time when the military continues to fall far short of recruitment targets, we cannot afford the cost of this harmful provision. When access to medical care is restricted, it does more than threaten the health of service members’ families: it threatens retention, morale, and readiness of our Armed Forces.

“Both our national security and military families deserve the freedom to live authentically and access the health care they need. People will be irreversibly harmed by this ban. Congress must not allow this dangerous measure to pass.”

The signers include national groups such as HRC, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Lambda Legal, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Reproductive Freedom for All, and Trevor Project, along with regional LGBTQ+ and progressive organizations and religious groups.

Rep. Adam Smith, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, has urged Johnson, a far-right Republican, to reject this portion of the bill. Johnson is “pandering to the most extreme elements of his party to ensure that he retains his speakership.”

The provision’s future in the Senate is uncertain, as, until January, it has a narrow Democratic majority. President Joe Biden has promised repeatedly to veto any legislation that would enshrine discrimination against transgender people into law.

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