Anti-LGBTQ+ provisions dropped from must-pass legislation

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is one of several large spending bills Congress is supposed to pass this year to keep the federal government funded. House Republicans used their slim majority to fill the NDAA and the other bills with anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion, and other far-right provisions.

Now, the version hammered out as a compromise with the Democrat-controlled Senate has been released, and it omits the controversial provisions far-right Republicans demanded.

Related:

People tailgated at a school board meeting to watch new members reverse extremist policies

It only took a couple of hours to undue the anti-LGBTQ+ policies the previous members had instituted.

Republicans added several anti-LGBTQ+ measures to the NDAA, including measures to remove any gender-affirming care coverage for trans troops and ban any book that has “pornographic materials.” The former would block TRICARE – the health care plan for servicemembers, their families, and the National Guard – from reimbursing gender-affirming care, even for adults. The ban included hormone replacement therapy, which could force trans people who depend on TRICARE to detransition.

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Republicans also added a provision banning the military from helping servicemembers stations in states that ban abortion to travel to a state where they can access an abortion.

“MAGA members of Congress tried to hijack the National Defense Authorization Act to advance their anti-LGBTQ+ agenda, attempting to riddle it with discriminatory riders,” Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf said.

“They failed and equality won. Anti-LGBTQ+ provisions, including efforts to restrict access to gender-affirming care, were rejected. The anti-LGBTQ+ agenda continues to be deeply unpopular across the country and a failing political strategy.”

The deal hammered out has infuriated Republican extremists in the House, setting up a showdown with newly installed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Johnson, arguably the most vociferously anti-LGBTQ+ member of Congress, seems to have given his blessing to remove the provisions in an attempt to get the legislation passed and sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

With only a bare majority in Congress, Johnson will likely need to rely on Democrat support to pass the bill. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has made a career out of attacking transgender people, has said she’ll vote against it.