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Defense Bill with Transgender Care Ban Signed by Biden
National Defense Authorization Act into law, including a provision that strips away health care coverage from transgender minors who are children or dependents of military personnel.The $895 billion bill, which focuses on military funding, as well as salary, housing, and child care services for military personnel, was targeted by Republicans, who submitted amendments that attacked transgender health care.Under the Republican-introduced provision, TRICARE, the health insurance plan for military service members, is banned from covering any medical treatment for “gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization” for minor dependents of military members.While hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgeries would no longer be covered by TRICARE, it remains unclear whether puberty blockers would also be banned, though the intent of the provision is to limit coverage for any transition-related treatment for gender dysphoria.The House of Representatives voted 281-140 to pass the bill, with 81 Democrats voting for passage. Sixteen Republicans voted against the bill, but not because of the transgender health restrictions.Senate Democrats attacked the provision, but failed to get it removed from the bill, which ultimately passed by a vote of 85-14.Despite facing pressure from LGBTQ advocacy groups, Biden signed the bill into law, unwilling to give Republicans a line of attack against Democrats that might brand them as insufficiently supportive of the military.The bill, with the ban on transition-related care intact, is the first piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation to pass both chambers of Congress since the now-defunct “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was first introduced in 1993.
