Republicans in Congress have hijacked a bill authorizing national defense spending for the coming year by forcing a ban on any medical treatment for gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization for those under 18 under the militarys health insurance plan, TriCare. The provision could prevent military members from getting safe, effective transitional care for their transgender children.The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is an annual act published by Congress that regulates how the military budget is spent; it also regulates additional military facets beyond the budget. The GOP added a provision in this years NDAA that regulated any gender-affirming care for minors. However, in a bipartisan compromise meeting, the aforementioned provision against gender-affirming care was revealed instead. Related House GOP introduces bill to ban newly elected Democrat from using the womens room at the Capitol Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene are outraged that Sarah McBride might use the restroom at her new place of work. This version awaits a vote from the House and Senate, and will go to President Joe Bidens desk, where he may veto or pass it. If he passes it, this would be the first federal statute restricting the LGBTQ+ community since the infamous Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy of the 1990s which heavily restricted LGBTQ+ peoples membership in the military. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today It is unclear exactly what gender-affirming care procedures will be targeted by the NDAA. Whilepuberty blockers do not affect fertility, hormone replacement therapy may limit it to some degree while individuals are on it, although this is by no means universal, and there are fertility preservation processes like freezing eggs or sperm to counteract it.Additionally, not all gender-affirming surgeries affect fertility, such as mastectomies, or top surgeries, in transmasculine individuals. However, such procedures are rarely conducted on children to begin with.This provision may make the bill difficult to pass during the current lame-duck session. Over 160 House Democrats said in September that a final agreement should not target LGBTQ+ people, and President Biden has previously promised to veto legislation that would negatively affect the LGBTQ+ population.House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said in a statement, This [NDAA] legislation includes House-passed provisions to restore our focus on military lethality and to end the radical woke ideology being imposed on our military by permanently banning transgender medical treatment for minors and countering antisemitism. This legislation also reinforces our commitment to Americas brave men and women in uniform, and their families, by making landmark investments in their quality of life.Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) released a statement urging Johnson to reconsider the bill. Blanketly denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong, Smith wrote. This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills. Speaker Johnson is pandering to the most extreme elements of his party to ensure that he retains his speakership. In doing so, he has upended what had been a bipartisan process, he said.I urge the Speaker to abandon this current effort and let the House bring forward a bill reflective of the traditional bipartisan process that supports our troops and their families, invests in innovation and modernization, and doesnt attack the transgender community, Smith continued.Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement, Instead of focusing on the needs of the American people and our national security, anti-equality House Republican leaders are hijacking a defense bill to play politics with the healthcare of children of servicemembers. This is not leadership, its bullying, and it is a direct attack on military families. This discriminatory provision is a slap in the face to servicemembers and their families, who sacrifice every day for our country. We ask our servicemembers to defend our country, and in return, we should defend their rights, Robinson continued. This cruel and hateful bill suddenly strips away access to medical care for families that members of our armed forces are counting on, and it could force servicemembers to choose between staying in the military or providing healthcare for their children. Politicians have no place inserting themselves into decisions that should be between families and their doctors. We call on members of Congress to do whats right and vote against this damaging legislation.Republicans introduced numerous anti-LGBTQ+ provisions in the 2024 NDAA, butmost of them got stripped out of the final versionin order to win the Democrat support it needed to become law. The single anti-LGBTQ+ provision remaining in the bill prevented Pride flags from being flown over U.S. embassies in foreign countries, something that embassies can creatively work around.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.