REPUBLICANS have criticized President Joe Biden for using taxpayers’ money to offer transgender veterans a sex-confirmation surgery.
GOP members condemned the Department of Veterans Affairs move following an announcement on Saturday.
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Despite requests to help veterans, not all are happy with the Biden government’s moveCredit: AP
Speaking at a Pride Month event in Orlando this weekend, Secretary of State Denis McDonough said, “We are making these changes not just because they are the right thing, but because they can save lives.”
He noted that his decision was based on “recommendations from our clinicians. So this is a healthcare decision that has very real physical health implications as well as significant mental health implications”.
According to McDonough, the change – which will likely go through a year-long state rulemaking process – was helpful in overcoming a “dark history” of discrimination against LGBTQ members, the Associated Press reported.
McDonough, secretary for veterans affairs for the Biden government, said the new move is just the first step in extending VA health benefits to gender-based confirmatory surgery.
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McDonough, secretary for veterans affairs for the Biden government, said the new move is just the first step in extending VA health benefits to gender-based confirmatory surgeryPhoto credit: Rex
It will take time to “develop the capacity to meet the surgical needs of transgender veterans” and allow veterinarians to have the VA “by their side” during the full sex confirmation process, McDonough said.
Despite requests to help veterans, not all are happy with the Biden government’s move.
“President Biden and Secretary of State McDonough should focus less on winning the Culture Wars and more on helping the veterans who are suffering from the actual wars,” said Rep. Mike Bost, a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. opposite Fox News.
“Congress has been waiting months for you to come to the table and help us provide care and benefits to toxic veterans who are sick and dying. We did not receive a response for gender reassignment surgery in VA medical facilities. “
Additionally, Montana GOP representative Matt Rosendale disagrees that taxpayers’ money should be used for surgery costs.
In a statement to Fox News, Rosedale condemned pressure on taxpayer-funded gender-verification operations as “absolute disgrace”.
“This is yet another radical political proposal from a government that does not care about the reality of its harmful effects on those who suffer from mental illness and have sacrificed for our country,” added Rosedale.
Approximately 134,000 transgender veterans and over 15,000 transgender persons serve in the military today, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Back in January, Biden lifted Donald Trump’s 2017 ban on enrolling transgender people in the military.
The president signed an executive order that allows transgender people to serve because it is “the right thing” and in the “national interest”.
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Trump announced the ban in July 2017, undoing a landmark decision by Barack Obama that allowed transgender people to serve openly and get help with sex reassignment.
Under Trump’s policies, transgender soldiers were allowed to continue serving, but new recruits were kept out.
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