In a party line In voting Tuesday, the House advanced a provision targeting health care for transgender youth under military health insurance in the annual defense spending bill. The proposal, which was added at the last minute to the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, would explicitly codify anti-LGBTQ+ policy into federal law for the first time in decades.
The controversial language, pushed by Republican leaders and passed in bipartisan compromise billwould ban “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization”, effectively barring access to gender-affirming care for minors whose family members are on active duty in the military .
A procedural vote Tuesday afternoon focused on whether the NDAA would come to the House for a vote with the provision in place or whether lawmakers would be forced to renegotiate and potentially remove anti-transgender language of the bill. Although Democrats voted unanimously against the measure, the Republican Party unanimously supported it. It passed 211-207, with four Democrats and nine Republicans not voting.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., left no ambiguity about the intent of the bill, adage it would work by “permanently banning transgender medical treatment for minors” on military insurance.
Civil liberties groups predicted Tuesday’s vote would be close and urged House Democrats to vote “no” to advance the current version of the bill. Advocates sound alarm about bill’s potential deadly consequences for trans youth with military insurance and warning that its adoption would represent a serious setback for the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the United States.
“Not only would this be devastating to the lives, health and well-being of these military children and families, it would be the first time in nearly three decades that we have seen the adoption of an anti-LGBTQ policy explicit in a federal law,” said Ian Thompson, senior legislative attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union.
Thompson noted that the Defense of Marriage Act, which banned same-sex marriages and was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, was the most recent example of explicitly anti-LGBTQ+ policies codified in federal law. “So it’s incredibly significant,” he said. “And we’ve really tried to make that point to our key allies on Capitol Hill and across the administration, to really underscore the seriousness of this attack on the human rights and freedom of transgender people.”
Although it is unclear how many transgender youth receive their health care through the military insurer, TRICARE, a Analysis 2022 published in the American Journal of Public Health found that about 2,500 minors sought care for gender dysphoria that year through the insurance program.
Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., chastised her Republican colleagues for “targeting trans people” instead of doing the work of legislating. “This is not only an unprecedented discriminatory racer, but it will cause real and irreversible harm,” Ramirez said in a statement to The Intercept. “Trans youth deserve the care they need to thrive. And we all deserve the opportunity to debate and develop important legislation that impacts our communities.
On Sunday, a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., called on Republicans to remove the anti-trans provision. “Categorically denying health care to people who clearly need it, simply because of a biased idea against transgender people, is wrong,” Smith said in a statement. statement. “President Johnson is pandering to the most extremist elements of his party to ensure that he retains his position as president. In doing so, he upended what was previously a bipartisan process.”
In a written statement after the vote, Smith said he would vote against the final version of the bill when it is introduced. “The inclusion of this harmful provision puts children’s lives at risk and could force thousands of service members to make the choice to continue,” he wrote in a statement provided to The Intercept.
Groups opposed to the provision hope the Biden administration will step in to support trans youth. The human rights campaign underlines over the weekend, President Joe Biden “a promised repeatedly has veto any legislation that would enshrine discrimination against transgender people in the law.
The ACLU’s Thompson noted that while the White House typically issues an administrative policy statement on major legislation like the NDAA, which is considered a “must pass” bill, it has not yet done so. The White House previously came under fire from trans rights groups after saying it opposed gender-affirming surgeries for transgender youth. The later administration amended her position, saying she opposed limits on health care for transgender people.
Before the vote, Thompson said that even if the rule passed, the fight would not be over. banning treatment is part of it,” he said. “But if the rule passes and they actually have to vote on the underlying bill itself, we hope, once again, that pro-equality members of Congress will oppose the bill on defense due to the inclusion of this health care ban.”
Updated: December 10, 2024, 4:09 p.m. ET
This article has been updated to include the results of the vote and a statement from Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash.