December 24, 2024 - Last night, President Biden signed into law the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. This annual defense policy bill included a new provision blocking health care for the transgender children of military servicemembers. This provision is the first anti-LGBTQ+ federal law enacted since the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.

Fran “Hutch” Hutchins (she/they), Executive Director at Equality Federation, issued the following statement in response:

“It is utterly heartbreaking to see one of President Biden’s last actions in office be the signing of anti-transgender legislation into federal law. The U.S. Congress, particularly Speaker Mike Johnson, created an impossible situation, using a must-pass annual defense spending bill to cruelly deny vital health care to transgender youth whose parents serve our nation. It is unconscionable that Congress has decided politicians know better than families and healthcare providers when it comes to medical care for transgender youth. 

“This measure serves no purpose other than to target military families and sets a dangerous and destructive political precedent of withholding medically necessary health care as a matter of politics. Being a young person is hard enough. We don’t need politicians making it even harder for young people who are transgender, denying them essential medical care, and singling them out for increased bullying and harassment. This is an act of political cowardice we will not soon forget.”