New rule would let VA provide sex reassignment surgery to transgender vets

(Photo: Alan Lessig/Military Times)

Veterans Affairs doctors could begin providing sex reassignment surgery in coming years under a new rule proposed by the department.

The move would remove a long-held ban on the surgery and likely provide another cultural point of controversy in the wake of federal rules, issued last month, that mandate public schools allow transgender students to use the bathroom of the gender they choose.

The proposal, made public this week by transgender advocates and Time magazine, states that past surgical procedures were poorly understood. Officials therefore could not justify providing them to veterans with gender dysphoria, a condition experienced by individuals who don’t identify with their biological gender for a variety of mental and physiological reasons.

“However, increased understanding of both gender dysphoria and surgical techniques in this area have improved significantly, and surgical procedures are now widely accepted in the medical community as medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria,” the proposed rule says.
“Additionally, recent medical research shows that gender dysphoria is a serious condition that has had severe medical consequences for certain patients if transition-related surgeries and procedures are not provided.”

Advocates hailed the move as both an important step forward for equality and a signal that the department is committed to offering the best available health care to all veterans.

"So many veterans rely on the VA for important medical care that they have earned serving our nation, including transgender veterans,” said Ashley Broadway-Mack, president of the American Military Partner Association. “Gender confirmation surgery is often a critically important and medically necessary treatment, and lifting this ban is long overdue."