In time for Pride Month, the Department of Veterans Affairs' Secretary Denis McDonough announced on Saturday the organization's plans to provide health care coverage for transgender surgery. During a Pride Month event in Orlando, which coincided with the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse that ended the lives of 49 people, Sec. McDonough promised to put the organization's "dark history" in the past and be more inclusive and welcoming to all genders.
According to the Washington Post (WaPo), the two-year process of including transgender treatment in the Department Of Veteran Affairs' healtcare coverage will begin this summer. Sec. McDonough explained, "This time will allow VA to develop capacity to meet the surgical needs that transgender veterans have called for and deserved for a long time and I am proud to begin the process of delivering it."
This is yet another move by the new administration to cater to woke leftist ideologies while ignoring more pressing matters plaguing veterans such as homelessness and access to healthcare. The Department of Veteran Affairs office's move to fund transgender treatment is a turnaround from former President Donald Trump's limitations on transgender individuals serving in the military. President Joe Biden had immediately reversed the ban when he took office.
The Department of Veteran Affairs office spokesman Terrence Hayes told WaPo that the federal rulemaking process, which will be launched this summer, will allow space for public comment. There hasn't been a price tag attached to transgender treatment in the military, but the National Center for Transgender Equality estimates about 134,000 transgender veterans who may be interested in the new policy.
"We're making these changes not only because they are the right thing to do but because they can save lives," Sec. McDonough said. However, the Gateway Pundit points out that the Department of Veteran Affairs office fails to recognize that there are over 37,000 homeless veterans in the U.S., an issue that has long been left unaddressed by the government.
Sec. McDonough admitted that "minority stress" causes LGBTQ+ veterans to "experience mental illness and suicidal thoughts at far higher rates than those outside their community, but they are significantly less likely to seek routine care, largely because they fear discrimination." The health benefits provided by the Department of Veteran Affairs include mental health services and hormone therapy.
But a study conducted in 2017 by Ronald D. Hester of the Florida International University showed how "mental health disparities are often a leading factor to the high suicide rates among veterans who experience depression and [PTSD]." The study suggested that "the VA needs to do a better job of developing strategies for routine mental health screening and early intervention for all service members before they return to civilian life."
Not only does the VA need to address healthcare for veterans, it also must recognize the rise in the number of veterans experiencing homelessness. In March, the Military Times reported that the number of homeless veterans increased in 2020 to 37,252, as per the Department of Housing and Urban Development's annual point-in-time estimate. The report showed that for every 10,000 veterans, 21 were experiencing homelessness.
HUD said that the results of the report were "very troubling, even before you consider what COVID-19 has done to make the homelessness crisis worse."
