The VA announced on Monday that, ‘effective immediately,’ it will no longer offer cross-sex hormones to veterans with gender confusion in response to Trump’s executive order cracking down on gender ideology.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) -- Following the lead of the U.S. Army, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said that it will be ending nearly all so-called “gender transition” procedures for gender-confused veterans, including the promotion of transgender hormones to past service members.
“I mean no disrespect to anyone, but VA should not be focused on helping Veterans attempt to change their sex,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins in a press release on Monday.
“The vast majority of Veterans and Americans agree,” he noted.
On the first day of his presidency, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The executive order affirms that sex is immutable.
Citing this EO, the VA said as per its press release that “effective immediately” it will not offer cross-sex hormones "to Veterans who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria.”
The only exception will be if veterans are already receiving such hormones from the VA or had been receiving them from the “military as part of and upon their separation from military service and they are eligible for VA health care.”
Collins noted that all “eligible Veterans – including trans-identified Veterans” will “always be welcome at VA and will always receive the benefits and services they’ve earned under the law,” however, if they “want to attempt to change their sex, they can do so on their own dime.”
The VA also announced that it would also ensure that “all intimate spaces, such as bathrooms, locker rooms and patient rooms, are designated by sex (male or female) or unisex for single-person spaces.”
While the VA said it had never “offered sex-change surgeries,” the department had been offering gender dysphoria procedures “for more than a decade.”
The VA noted that it has not kept “consistent and reliable records regarding the total number of Veterans who endured these procedures” or the amount of “money spent on them or the total number of employees involved.”
Under President Joe Biden, many pro-transgender policies were implemented, including allowing current U.S. military personnel access to free so-called "gender transition” procedures. Biden’s orders revoked Trump’s first-term decision to prohibit gender-confused individuals from enlisting in the military.
The VA said that under Biden’s administration, it had been promoting an array of “services designed to help Veterans attempt to change their sex,” which included cross-sex hormones, voice and communication training, and so-called gender-affirming prosthetics, “including breast forms, chest binders, dilator sets for post-vaginoplasty, packers, surgical compression vests, and wigs.”
In February, the U.S. Army, citing Trump’s executive order banning gender-confused individuals from entering the military, said that the “transitioning” of military members has been halted.
A significant body of evidence shows that “affirming” gender confusion carries serious harms, including cancer, stroke, heart disease, suicide, and sterility.
