VA wants to provide transgender surgeries

SGT (Join to see) - That's is the $64,000 question. Face it, your service connected needs are out-weighed by decidedly social justice determinations of an out of control department of the federal government.

This paragraph is in the post, "The department recently posted a notice and requested public comment on the White House’s Office of Management and Budget website." I tried finding the notice but I didn't find anything close. Maybe a person has to know how to look up public notices, but I looked really hard and couldn't find anything.

LTC Trent Klug - I have thought about it, and no I still go by the side of how the medical field treats this disorder per the DSM V. Technically if you do think about it, we discharged many soldiers for being transgender so then for those soldiers it IS a service related disability. Funny how that works.
Perhaps you are not aware of what constitutes elective procedures? Usually electrics procedures could be defined as those that when NOT performed, no harm could come to the patient.

LTC Trent Klug - This has nothing to do with social justice. It's a valid diagnosis by the APA and is listed in he DSM V. However, the "social justice" you speak of actually would take away the right for that treatment as a VA benefit as we no longer discharge soldiers who are transgendered. This is a fascinating discussion.

It's not elective. It's a legitimate treatment for gender identity disorder. It can only be done after extensive treatment and a solid diagnosis combined with psychotherapy. And if a soldier sought help for it before they got out and were discharged for it then we have an obligation to continue treatment. It's a medical issue not an LGBT issue. Being pro LGBT, this is great news. This also has nothing to do with someone going to BCT straight and realizing they are a homosexual later.

SPC Charles Smith - Your story like so many others are exactly what we need to fix. The beauracy behind healthcare interferes far too much with patient care. I find it repulsive.

For VA purposes it is an elective surgery. The VA is supposed to be utilized to take care of Soldiers who have been injured due to service. So unless the service made a Soldier turn gay then it should not be covered.

1SG (Join to see) - Let me preface with I am not a SME on this issue. As far as I understand, gender dysphoria is not about sexual orientation, but it is about gender. Our gender is a sense of who we are between our ears. Our sex is what we actually physically have between our legs (our genitals). Some babies are diagnosed as being inter-sexed (having ambiguous genitals). Sexual Orientation is what we feel between our ears for seeking a sexual partner. If I am incorrect, someone feel free to correct me. I only used knowledge I have between my ears, and I did not google it.