The Senate debated the anti-transgender provisions of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Tuesday, with several Democrats coming out in forceful support of transgender rights.The bill, which is generally considered must-pass legislation to fun the military, had an amendment attached to it in the House that would deny coverage of gender-affirming care for minors under the militarys health insurance plan, Tricare, for any procedure that may result in sterilization. While this does not include puberty blockers, it may be used to target hormone replacement therapy, an essential treatment for transgender youth. Related Senate votes to advance military bill that restricts trans healthcare Sen. Tammy Baldwin is leading the charge to remove the anti-trans part of the bill. The debate featured four Democratic politicians calling on their colleagues to support Sen. Tammy Baldwins (D-WI) proposed amendment to the NDAA that would strike the anti-trans language from the bill, known as Section 708. Among them include Baldwin herself, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Today we are considering the NDAA. Embedded within its language would be a ban of Tricare coverage of gender affirming care for children of servicemembers in our country If passed into law, it would be the first anti-LGBTQ+ law passed by Congress in decades, since the 1990s, said Sen. Markey during the debate, in reference to the infamous Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy, which codified the militarys ban on gay and bisexual people serving openly in the military. This language is the product of a nationwide campaign against trans rights. A campaign that has facilitated harassment of teachers, bomb threats to childrens hospitals, and attacks on transgender people.Weve seen this playbook before, he continued. For decades Republicans attacked the right to abortion. They slowly chipped away, state by state, law by law, and today there is no Constitutional right to abortion.We must fight off efforts by politicians to force themselves into exam rooms. They think that they know better than trained healthcare providers and patients. They do not. The only expertise they are exhibiting is an expertise in oppression, suppression, and repression of health care freedom, and their attacks will not stop there. Freedom isnt lost all at once. It happens one inch at a time. And as the Senate author of the Trans Bill of Rights, this is an inch that we cannot give. Our commitment to our service members and all we represent, and to our security and safety, was broken. It has been broken because some Republicans decided that gutting the rights of our servicemembers to score cheap political points was more worthy, said Baldwin, before noting that this will affect upwards of 7,000 military families. Its flat out wrong to put this provision in this bill and take away a servicemembers ability to make a decision for their family, she continued.Under this bill, these children would not be able to access the care they need, said Sen. Hirono. We know what happens when transgender and nonbinary children are refused care. According to the Journal of Adolescent Health, depression, anxiety, and suicide all increase. This will cause trauma to the servicemembers, their children, the entire family. We didnt have to do this. We didnt have to impose this cruelty on our servicemembers and their families. I thank Senator Baldwin for introducing an amendment to strip this unnecessary provision from our bill, an amendment I and others are proud to cosponsor. We know that this fight is not over.I rise today to call my colleagues for section 708 to be removed from the bill. As you know I am new to the U.S. Senate. I come to the floor with great humility and great urgency, said Sen. Kim, before joining Hirono in listing the provisions of the bill he supports. By banning Tricare from covering gender-affirming care for minors, we are standing in the way of military families and the health care their doctors have prescribed. We are putting politics in a bill where it simply does not belong. We are sending a signal to our military families that if your loved ones are transgender, we dont have their backs. We shouldnt target transgender youth and spread fear into a community that has seen so much hate directed towards it.These speeches were widely supported by advocates who attended the hearing. Activist and legislative researcher Allison Chapman told LGBTQ Nation, Senators Markey, Kim, Hirono, and Baldwin all spoke about the effects this will have on military families. Markeys speech was particularly powerful and called out the increasing attacks on trans people at the state level. Seeing a Senator acknowledging the damage anti-trans attacks have on my community left me tearing up. Lindsay Church, Executive Director of Minority Veterans of America, said in a statement sent to LGBTQ Nation, Military service members and their families should not have to choose between taking care of our families health needs and serving our nation. They require access to comprehensive and quality health care, including gender-affirming care, as they sacrifice for the country they love. We urge Senators to join the Baldwin amendment, striking hate from our nations military funding, and to vote NO on any final NDAA bill that includes this provision.A press conference was held several hours after the debate concluded, led by Senator Markey, who echoed much of his remarks during the debate. Brandon Wolf, the National Press Secretary of the Human Rights Campaign, said during this conference: Servicemembers and their families make incredible sacrifices for this country. They lay absolutely everything on the line, and we entrust them with our nations safety, security, and its freedom. They are owed our respect, and the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions. But unfortunately, a bill that is supposed to be about pay increases and improvements to their quality of life has been hijacked. It has been poisoned by anti-LGBTQ+ animus.Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Womens Law Center, said during the conference: Were in a situation where right-wing extremists are once again trying to score political points by shamelessly targeting trans kids. Theres no reason that this specific bill should include such baseless, cruel, and inherently discriminatory anti-trans measures. Denying medical coverage to transgender people will make it harder to their families who are serving the country and simply trying to do right by their children.Chapman and Church both also delivered comments during the press conference, touching on their own experiences as transgender people and the wide impacts that anti-trans legislation has on the broader community. Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.