EqualityMaine Urges President Biden to Veto the FY2025 NDAA After Senate’s Passage of Defense Bill Attacking Military Families with Transgender Youth

December 18, 2024

PORTLAND, ME – EqualityMaine is alarmed and saddened by passage of the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by Congress, which includes a provision that will ban healthcare for transgender teens whose parent(s) are members of the military. We are deeply disappointed in our members of Congress, specifically Senator Collins, Senator King, and Representative Golden, who are supposed to represent the best interest of Maine’s people and our values. We do, though, want to thank Representative Pingree for having the fortitude and good sense to vote against this harmful provision.  

This rider was put back into the full spending bill by GOP lawmakers at the last minute after months of good faith negotiations, representing a direct attack on trans youth and their families, undermining both their access to life-saving healthcare and their right to bodily autonomy.  This ban directly contradicts expert medical consensus and disregards the guidance of every major U.S. medical and mental health association. All of these organizations affirm that gender-affirming care is a medically necessity for many transgender youth. By passing this bill, Congress has effectively placed military families in a situation where their children’s healthcare needs will no longer be met through TRICARE – a health care program for uniformed services members and their families – pushing families into potentially harmful and desperate financial, logistical, and legal difficulties. 

For many military families, this decision represents more than just a policy shift; it removes the ability of parents to make critical, private healthcare decisions for their children in partnership with their trusted medical providers. Stripping away that life-saving health coverage for their children leaves families to navigate an increasingly hostile healthcare landscape, forcing them to pay out-of-pocket or travel long distances to find care that is essential for their child’s well-being. If military members are stationed in a hostile state for trans healthcare, their child will suffer the consequences.

Executive Director Gia Drew said, “The inclusion of this harmful provision highlights a disturbing trend of political interference of essential healthcare and infringes upon the rights of some of the most vulnerable people in our community. It also opens the door for future legislation that may seek to strip away access to care based on political ideology, rather than the medical needs of families. Politicians should stay out of healthcare decisions that should be between child and parent.”

EqualityMaine strongly urges President Biden to veto this bill and prioritize the health and well-being of all members of military families. Our nation’s commitment must be to support the children of those who serve, not to subject them to unnecessary suffering for political gain. 

EqualityMaine is Maine’s oldest and largest LGBTQ+ rights organization. Our mission is to protect and advance full equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Mainers by creating an inclusive and intersectional movement through political action, community building, education, engagement and collaboration. We envision the day when all LGBTQ+ Mainers and their families are empowered and have full equality in the hearts and minds of Maine people. www.equalitymaine.org