{"id":1117,"date":"2026-07-23T15:40:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1117"},"modified":"2026-07-23T15:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:40:05","slug":"5-democrats-vote-to-strip-gender-affirming-care-from-trans-servicemembers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1117","title":{"rendered":"5 Democrats Vote to Strip Gender-Affirming Care From Trans Servicemembers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Truthout is a vital news source and a living history of political struggle. If you think our work is valuable, <\/span><\/i>support us with a donation<\/span><\/i> of any size.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re transgender, you can die for our country \u2014 but you cannot receive life-saving health care, access it for your transgender family members, or expect your family to be treated equally in schools run by the armed forces, should a new provision in the House NDAA become law.<\/p>\n

This appears to be the politic of Democratic Representatives Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, of Texas; Donald G. Davis, of North Carolina; Shomari Figures and Terri A. Sewell, of Alabama. These lawmakers voted in favor of two proposals by South Carolina\u2019s Nancy Mace, to amend the pending National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). If passed in the Senate, Amendment 255 would gut gender-affirming care for uniformed service members, retirees, and their family members around the world. Amendment 256 would in turn ban transgender girls from women\u2019s sports in K-12 schools run by the military.<\/p>\n

That same night, however, the very same Democrats that sided with Mace voted against the proposed codification of Trump\u2019s anti-trans military ban. In other words\u2014they think transgender people should be able to enlist, but not enjoy the very freedoms they are supposedly fighting for.<\/p>\n

The so-called trans military ban is already in place through federal policymaking and Trump\u2019s Executive Order 14138. But it\u2019s not as permanent as a formal law on the books would make it. That amendment, brought by Colorado\u2019s notoriously anti-trans Representative Lauren Boebert, failed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re never going to give up the fight to protect our nation\u2019s transgender servicemembers,\u201d the Congressional Equality Caucus proudly declared after the ban was defeated, unequivocally calling it \u201cgood news.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true that staving off a discriminatory policy targeting trans people on the basis of their gender identity is a victory. The amendment claimed trans people are fundamentally at odds with the \u201creadiness and discipline\u201d needed from a member of the armed forces. Four Republicans \u2014 Reps. Brian K. Fitzpatrick (PA-1) and Michael Lawler (NY-17), plus legislators from U.S. territories such as Kimberlyn King-Hinds (Northern Mariana Islands) and James C. Moylan (Guam) \u2014 even crossed party lines to quash the amendment.<\/p>\n

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But all of them, plus that small cadre of Democrats, turned their backs on trans people when it came time to protect their right to be free from discrimination in health care and in schools. This may be in lockstep with the Republican Party Line, but Democrats who defected drew ire over their vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just an attack on transgender kids,\u201d said Kara Corcoran, the executive director of SPARTA Pride, an advocacy group for transgender military communities. \u201cIt\u2019s an attack on evidence-based care across military treatment facilities, and throughout the Department of Defense, not only here in America, but overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first Mace amendment would prohibit TRICARE from covering \u201cgender affirming medical treatment\u201d for transgender people, including servicemembers, retirees, and dependents like children or a spouse. The second Mace amendment would require all on-base K-12 schools operated by the military to ban trans girls from girls\u2019 sports teams.<\/p>\n

Last year, many of these same Democratic defectors \u2014 such as Cuellar, Davis, Figures, and Gonzalez \u2014 voted in favor of athletics bans or gender-affirming health care restrictions for trans servicemembers, veterans, and their families. Cuellar and Davis even lent their support to what amounted to a Pride flag ban at military facilities, as Erin in the Morning <\/em>has previously reported. Sewell marks the addition of a new name to this list. And while some of the defectors live in highly contested districts, Sewell\u2019s district is safely blue.<\/p>\n

Still, Corcoran and others are hopeful that these amendments will face the same fate as their many, many predecessors of anti-trans NDAA amendments or riders passed in the House. Anti-trans provisions snuck into spending, budget, and authorization bills have also been shot down. In a worst case scenario, Senate Democrats can also opt to filibuster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hopeful that the Senate will kill it,\u201d Corcoran told Erin in the Morning. <\/em>\u201cThey know there are far more important things to focus on, and they are seeing through the scapegoat tactics that certain politicians are using to gain power and influence through the use of fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This piece was republished with permission from<\/em> Erin In The Morning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They also voted on an amendment to ban transgender girls from women\u2019s sports in K-12 schools run by the military.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Democrats Vote to Strip Gender-Affirming Care From Trans Servicemembers - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1117\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Democrats Vote to Strip Gender-Affirming Care From Trans Servicemembers - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They also voted on an amendment to ban transgender girls from women\u2019s sports in K-12 schools run by the military.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1117\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-23T15:40:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1117#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1117\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"5 Democrats Vote to Strip Gender-Affirming Care From Trans Servicemembers\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-23T15:40:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1117\"},\"wordCount\":776,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1117#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f97213b0969b5286501fb943a3ac5efa.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1117#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1117\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1117\",\"name\":\"5 Democrats Vote to Strip Gender-Affirming Care From Trans Servicemembers - 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