Today’s highlights are a first in a series focused on HRC’s 2015 Blueprint for Positive Change
– a series of actions the administration can take to change the lives
of LGBT Americans for the better. This first release highlights five
specific areas that would make an immediate difference in the lives of
our nation’s heroes who happen to be LGBT, including: revising
restrictions on transgender individuals serving in the military;
including non-discrimination protections for service members based on
sexual orientation; ensuring transgender veterans have full access to
transition related care; providing increased VA cultural competency
training for service providers; and providing a blanket waiver to
same-sex couples to ensure access to veteran’s burial rights regardless
of state of residency.
“Since the overwhelmingly successful repeal of the
discriminatory DADT policy, we’ve seen tremendous progress within both
the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs for LGB
service members, LGBT veterans, and their families, but there is clearly
still important and significant progress to be made,” said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy.
“We urge the Administration to continue the President’s legacy of
profound progress for the LGBT community by updating the outdated
regulations and policies - like the barriers for transgender service and
equal opportunity programs - that continue to harm our nation’s LGBT
service members and veterans.”
Five actions the Obama Administration can take immediately to improve the lives of LGBT service members and veterans include:
Department of Defense
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Revise Restrictions on Transgender Individuals Serving in the Military
There are approximately
15,500 actively serving transgender members of the U.S. military, making
the Department of Defense (DOD) the largest employer of transgender
people in America. These courageous service members are forced to serve
in silence by DOD medical regulations prohibiting their service and
requiring their separation from the military if discovered. These
regulations are outdated and out of step with current medical practice.
Unlike the statutory ban that interfered with lesbian, gay, and bisexual
service members from serving (known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”) the ban
on transgender military service is regulatory and only requires action
by the Department of Defense to update. The Secretary of Defense should
immediately direct the chief medical personnel in each service branch to
update their medical regulations, which would pave the way for
transgender military service. In addition, the Secretary of Defense
should issue regulations that extend non-discrimination protections to
transgender service members.
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Include Non-Discrimination Protections for Service Members Based on Sexual Orientation
Today’s bipartisan letter
from U.S. Senators to the Secretary of Defense calls for this action,
saying “The absence of formal equal opportunity protections [based on
sexual orientation] not only undermines foundational American principles
of fairness and equality, it also presents an unneeded risk to national
security by negatively impacting the morale and readiness of our
all-volunteer force.” Civilian Department of Defense employees may file a
complaint for discrimination based on their sexual orientation. The
regulations also prohibit retaliation of any kind for filing a
complaint. Unfortunately, this same protection has not been extended to
the uniform services, leaving many LGB service members with limited
options for addressing incidents of discrimination and harassment for
themselves and actions against their families. Service members also
deserve these core protections. The Secretary of Defense should issue
regulations that extend non-discrimination protections based on sexual
orientation in the military equal opportunity program.
Department of Veterans Affairs
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Ensure Transgender Veterans Have Full Access to Transition Related Care
Currently, the Department of
Veterans Affairs does not provide the full range of medically necessary
care to transgender veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs should
revise its regulations to ensure transgender veterans have access to
all medically necessary services and treatments for transition related
care.
-
Provide Increased Cultural Competency Training for Service Providers
Long-term discrimination by
the federal government against LGBT service members has left many LGBT
veterans hesitant that their needs will be met with care and attention,
or has left them with the misunderstanding that they are not entitled to
government services. The Department of Veterans Affairs should provide
cultural competency training to service providers to ensure LGBT
veterans are comfortable coming out to their service providers and to
ensure LGBT veterans are receiving respectful, appropriate care.
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Provide a Blanket Waiver to Same-Sex Couples to Ensure Access to Veterans’ Burial Rights Regardless of State of Residency
Burial rights for the spouse
of a veteran are determined by the validity of the marriage in the
state of residence. Many same-sex couples continue to live in states
that fail to recognize their marriages, and sadly, some veterans passed
away before marriage equality arrived in their home state. Currently,
the Department of Veterans Affairs is making determinations about
whether the same-sex spouse of a veteran in a non-marriage equality
state can be buried in a national cemetery on a case-by-case basis. The
Department of Veterans Affairs should provide a blanket waiver to
same-sex couples to ensure access to veterans’ burial rights regardless
of the state of the couples’ residency.
The entire 2015 Blueprint for Positive Change can be found here.