The Pentagon has approved the first sex change operation for an active duty service member, with the American taxpayer footing the bill.
(Washington, D.C.) An infantryman underwent “gender reassignment” surgery in a civilian hospital on Tuesday after the Pentagon approved the operation. The head of the Defense Health Agency, Vice Admiral Raquel Bono, approved the request on Monday.
“This afternoon, an active duty military member received a sex-reassignment surgery. Military hospitals do not have the surgical expertise to perform this type of surgery, therefore it was conducted in a private hospital.” – Pentagon statement on surgery
In a statement, the Pentagon said that “the Supplemental Health Care Program will cover this surgery in accordance with the Department’s interim guidance on transgender service members.” Last month, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s ban on recruiting transgender troops and a block of funding for sex-change surgeries.
President Trump had signed a memorandum that halted all future funding for the surgeries, as well as barred the military from accepting transgender recruits. Two organizations immediately filed lawsuits challenging the policy, leading to the October blocking of the bans.
“Their lives have been devastated since Trump first tweeted he was reinstating the ban. They are now able to serve on equal terms with everyone else.” -Shannon Minter, attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights
As Iraq veteran and amputee J.R. Salzman pointed out, the VA still struggles to take care of vital, service-related issues. Yet, elective surgery is suddenly being funded.
https://twitter.com/jrsalzman/status/930610220736372741
Many supporters of the military footing the bill for these types of treatments have claimed that the cost of the surgeries and lifelong hormone therapy would be much less than what the VA spends on Viagra. Estimates for the annual cost for active duty service members range from $2.4 million to $8.4 million; according to one analysis of Defense Health Agency data, the Pentagon spent $84.24 million on 1.18 million prescriptions for eight different drugs that treat erectile dysfunction. However, the oft-cited quote of “the military spends 10 times as much on erectile dysfunction as it would on transgender medical care” is a blatant case of false equivalency.
The $8.4 million dollar estimate for transgender medical care only applies to service members who are on active duty, not veterans or those serving in the Reserves or National Guard. In 2014, the data shows that only $7.67 million of the money spent on erectile dysfunction was for prescriptions for service members on active duty. When these numbers are compared, it is actually less money than the high-end estimates of what transgender surgeries and hormone therapies will cost.
The other logical fallacy in this argument is the very nature of the medical treatment. A sex change operation is an elective surgery that is not treating a medical condition brought on by service-related issues. Over half of the active duty prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra were for treating psychiatric issues brought on by PTSD and other service-related issues. To try and equate an elective surgery to correct an alleged pre-existing condition with the medical treatment offered to service members with conditions brought on by their service is dishonest and offensive.
