WASHINGTON — Today, the United States Senate passed the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a provision blocking healthcare for the transgender children of military servicemembers. If signed into law, the bill would rip medically necessary care from the children of thousands of military families – families who make incredible sacrifices in defense of the country each and every day.

In a recent Washington Post interview, a retired Navy captain who “did seven deployments around the world, including to Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria,” made plain what’s at stake: 

“I’m being told essentially, ‘Thank you for your service. We’re no longer supporting your family. It is very hard for me to reconcile the idea that the country trusted me to fight in combat, to be shot at, to lead young sailors into combat, but they won’t trust me to make a medical decision for my child, which is the most important decision of my life.”

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson issued the following statement:

“We entrust our nation’s safety and freedoms to those who serve in the military. We ask them to make incredible sacrifices in defense of this country. In exchange, they deserve to be treated with respect and trusted to make decisions about their own families’ health care needs. A majority in the Senate failed those families today, thousands of whom now face the possibility of losing access to medically necessary care. President Biden has the power to put a stop to this cruelty. He should make good on his promises to protect LGBTQ+ Americans, defend military servicemembers and their families, and ensure this country’s politics reflect the best of who we are. President Biden must veto this bill.”

The passage of the bill came despite efforts by Senate Democrats to remove the anti-transgender provision. Led by Wisconsin U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), 21 Senators put forth an amendment striking the language that would deny health care to the children of servicemembers. In her statement, Senator Baldwin said, “I trust our servicemembers and their doctors to make the best healthcare decisions for their kids, not politicians.” Unfortunately, the amendment was not brought for a vote.

Members of both parties have expressed their frustration with the hijacking of a typically bipartisan process to levy attacks on transgender young people and their families. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, took the extraordinary step of voting against the legislation that he had helped to craft in response to the addition of the anti-transgender provision. In his statement announcing his opposition to the bill, Smith said: “Blanketly denying health care to people who need it—just because of a biased notion against transgender people—is wrong.”

House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) also criticized Speaker Mike Johnson's politicization of a bill that contains much needed pay raises for servicemembers and improvements to their quality of life, saying simply, “This stuff does not belong in our bill.”

President Biden has promised repeatedly to veto legislation that would enshrine discrimination against transgender people into law. The bill now heads to his desk, where he has the opportunity to reject this hijacked legislation and demand that Congress send him a clean bill that supports military servicemembers and their families.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

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