U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) – Photo: U.S. House of Representatives.
A Republican congresswoman is trying to prevent the military from using taxpayer dollars to pay for trans service members’ transition-related health care.
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), who wants to ban all transgender people from serving in the military, has filed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit the military from providing hormones or gender confirmation surgery, or insurance coverage for such treatments, reports The Washington Examiner.
U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) proposed an almost identical amendment, which would have barred the military from providing coverage for gender confirmation surgery or anything else thought to “promote the transgender agenda,” but it was withdrawn.
But Republican fears of transgender health care costs eating up the military budget may be unfounded. A 2015 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated that providing hormone therapy or surgery for trans service members would cost about $5.6 million each year, or “little more than a rounding error in the military’s $47.8 billion health care budget,” according to study author Aaron Belkin.
Last month, Hartzler attempted to ban any transgender service members from serving openly. She later withdrew the proposed amendment, but raised concerns about privacy in restroom and shower facilities.
“Is it fair to recruit our sons and daughters to fight for our nation and, instead of being able to focus on the enemy, subjecting them to disturbing distractions of very personal privacy issues involving sleeping and showering with individuals born of the opposite sex?” Hartzler said during a debate in the House Armed Services Committee, on which she serves. “It is not. Military service is a privilege, not a right.”
Under the current policy, which lifted a widespread ban on transgender service members, only those that are already serving are allowed to express themselves according to their gender identity.
The various service branches were expected to have made adequate preparations so they could begin accepting out transgender recruits beginning on July 1. But Defense Secretary Jim Mattis imposed a six-month delay after the heads of the various branches said they needed more time to study the issue and see if they would need to provide any special accommodations for transgender service members.
On the other side of the aisle, U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) has introduced an amendment that would commend all LGBTQ service members, including transgender personnel, for their service to the United States.
If Republicans vote against Schneider’s amendment, or the Rules Committee refuses to allow it to receive a floor vote, Democrats will likely pounce on Republicans for denigrating the service of military members — making it a wedge issue that could be used during the 2018 elections.
Austin police are investigating whether an assault on a transgender woman and a male bystander at Barton Springs, a popular Austin swimming spot, was a hate crime. The incident occurred on July 26, when three men began flirting with the woman’s friends and then allegedly harassed her after she approached them.
"They said something along the lines of 'I don't support that lifestyle,' while pointing at me, which upset all three of us," said the transgender woman, whose name is being withheld for safety and privacy reasons, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.
For the second time, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from University of Wyoming sorority members who challenged the admission of a transgender woman, arguing that she did not meet the definition of the word "woman."
"Having considered the issues presented (again), we find that the majority of the claims must be dismissed on the grounds that this Court still may not interfere with the sorority's contractually valid interpretation of its own bylaws," U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson wrote in his ruling.
The case began in 2023, when six members of the University of Wyoming’s Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter sued the sorority for admitting Artemis Langford, a transgender woman, and allowing her to use the campus house’s common areas -- though not live there -- according to Wyoming Public Media.
Social conservatives are claiming vindication for their views after Robin Westman, the 23-year-old behind the August 27 mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, was identified as transgender by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in an X post.
Armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, Westman fired dozens of rounds into the church during a morning Mass attended by students from the affiliated Annunciation Catholic School, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said, as reported by The Associated Press.
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