Clinicians within the Department of Veterans Affairs have expressed alarm over recent policy changes under the Trump administration that they argue abandon transgender veterans' healthcare needs. Over 50 anonymous VA staff members signed a letter outlining their concerns about a workplace atmosphere influenced by fear and censorship. Notably, VA Secretary Doug Collins has halted new gender-affirming treatments for veterans and initiated a rollback of inclusive policies, causing anxiety among staff regarding their ability to support LGBTQ+ patients. Clinicians feel the new policies not only deny critical care but also make transgender veterans feel unsafe within the system designed to support them.
Dozens of VA clinicians are breaking their silence, accusing the Trump administration of abandoning the very veterans they swore to serve. In a searing letter asking VA staff to sign on to an editorial circulating this week - and obtained by The Advocate - they describe a workplace transformed by fear, censorship, and cruelty.
Our leadership is failing Veterans, they write. This growing outrage follows a dramatic policy reversal last month, where Secretary Doug Collins ordered the agency to end new prescriptions for hormone therapy and referrals for gender-affirming care for transgender veterans.
Clinicians say the policy does not just cut off lifesaving health care - it signals to transgender veterans that they are no longer safe or welcome in a system designed to care for them.
Since the March directive, VA staff say they've been ordered to remove Pride flags and other LGBTQ-inclusive signage from hospitals, delete pronouns from staff bios, and report colleagues for using words like "transgender" or "LGBTQ+" in office settings.
Collection
[
|
...
]