Republicans are trying to strip trans medical rights out of the US Defense Bill
Vicky Hartzler compared trans soldiers to ISIS (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Republicans in the US House are trying to add an amendment to the national defense authorization bill to strip away medical rights for trans people in the military.
The House Rules Committee on Wednesday night approved an amendment by Vicky Hartzler to the 2018 bill which specifically bars trans people from being able to get hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery.
It is estimated that there are more than 6,500 transgender people in active military service.
The text of the amendment reads: “Funds available to the Department of Defense may not be used to provide medical treatment (other than mental health treatment) related to gender transition to a person entitled to medical care…”
The House will vote on Thursday whether the amendment will be kept, along with 121 other proposed amendments.
Ashley Broadway-Mack of the American Military Partner Association said: “This vile amendment is a vicious attack on service members who are sacrificing so much and putting their lives on the line for our country.
“This legislative assault on military families absolutely must be stopped. We urge members of Congress to reject this cruel proposal.”
According to a study by RAND, the cost of providing the medical treatment is relatively low.
The study estimated that between 30 and 140 people would seek hormone treatments per year and 25 to 130 would seek gender reassignment surgeries.
The American Medical Association has made clear that medical treatment for transgender people is necessary.
During the committee hearing which approved Hartzler’s amendment, Democratic Representative Jared Polis tried to strip the amendment from the bill.
All the Republicans on the Committee voted for it.
Hartzler previously said that trans soldiers were as much of a threat to the US as “North Korea, and Putin, and ISIS”.
In 2011, she compared gay marriage to incest, paedophilia and allowing three-year-olds to drive.
