VA won’t allow sex change surgeries

| November 15, 2016

The Military Times reports that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has back-pedaled on plans to offer sex-change surgery to veterans. Their reasoning seems to be budgetary;

The move, first reported by Military.com, is a significant setback for LGBT advocates and raises questions on whether the surgeries will be offered anytime in coming years, given conservative control of the White House and Congress in 2017.

In a statement Monday, VA officials said they plan on continuing to offer assistance to transgender veterans by offering “hormone therapy, mental health care, preoperative evaluation” and other services.

But pursuing a rule change to allow the long-held ban on VA physicians offering the surgeries will be delayed until “when appropriated funding is available.”

How’s about first showing us how gender dysphoria is service-connected like the rest of the stuff that we ask to get done. I’m not going to dispute whether or not it’s even necessary, not until they can explain to me how it’s caused by military service. Basically, it’s elective surgery. Are they going to offer tummy tucks and nose jobs to the fat and ugly? Probably not.

Are they giving treatment to every member of the military for the things that are connected to their service….not yet. This should go to the very bottom of the “To do” list until they can satisfy their actual mandate to heal service-connected injuries.

Category: Veterans' Affairs Department

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Doug

I see enough BS working for the VA now. I’m with you, prove how the military caused you to switch genders, first.

desert

They should NEVER have the fund for this travesty!

Dave Hardin

That kind of radically conservative policy will stop individuals from seeking a career in Special Forces or RECON.

Individuals like this deserve an equal chance without being discriminated against.

comment image

Swimming is probably his talent…I say he might fit in with the SEALS/UDT

IDC SARC

emahgerd!

OC

Oh fuck, I had to look didn’t I?
Eye bleach, STAT!!!

Doc Savage

NONONONONONONNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

GMF’n Dammit!! he didn’t post an eye safety/spew alert!

Bad form Mr Hardin…bad form.

That was so not cool.

Ex-PH2

Just once, you could post a spew alert, Dave Hardin. Just once.

Graybeard

So glad I’m late enough to this that I’ve been forewarned by my Battle Buddies against going there.

rgr769

Ditto for the SEALS/UDT. He/she/whatzit would look “fabulous” in SCUBA gear with the right carry bag (purse). Query: is this guy an example of the “Q” in LBGTQ? Because I don’t think he has found the answer.

Sparks

EYE BLEACH!

ChipNASA

I’m half fine with this. If you want to have a lopoffadicktomy and then tuck it in and then everyone can see you’re a giant pussy, I’m good with it.

I’m not paying for girls to have a strap on installed.
No THANKYOU

Dave Hardin

“Pegging” is all the rage with millennials. Keep up with the times, you are soooooo 80’s

ChipNASA

I had to google “Pegging”.
You’re right. Apparently I am behind the times.
I’m kinda proud of that.
/vanilla
😀 😀 😀 :O

Dave Hardin

HAHAHAHAHA, dating younger women is not as fun as most men think.

2/17 Air Cav

Pegging? I remember a board game I had as a kid, with little plastic pegs and a tin game board. I think it was Chinese checkers. I don’t suppose that’st the pegging you’re talking about? No, I guess not.

Dave Hardin

Its a game you never want to fall behind in.

Dave Hardin

There is a dramatic difference in how HONDO’s harem acts.

This past Saturday she won 3rd in another National competition.

comment image

This is what she looks like when we get home.

comment image

Scary, do not get between her and food of any kind or pegging will be the least of your worries.

The Other Whitey

And here I thought that was just a joke in the “Deadpool” movie.

You’re telling me that the kids these days think it’s cool for allegedly-heterosexual dudes to take explicitly-phallic objects up their assholes? Jesus Christ, a whole lot of our nation’s current problems just started making sense…

Dave Hardin

We have to be more “inclusive” these days. Taking it up the ass is just your way of showing you are not homophobic.

Take one for the team.

The Other Whitey

“Inclusive” my ass…so to speak.

Hondo

That practice goes way back, DH – to at least the 1950s. If I recall, the practice is mentioned in William Burroughs’ “Naked Lunch” during the discussion of the original “Steely Dan III from Yokohama”. Don’t believe they used the term, though.

Gives a whole new meaning to the song by Steely Dan from Aja named “Peg”. (smile)

Peg, it will come back to you . . . .

Silentium Est Aureum

I guess people aren’t aware of the term “peg boy” from back in pirate days, either.

Talk about your rum, sodomy, and the lash….

Reaperman

okay, so they won’t cover changes. Will they cover ‘enhancements’? An extra 15″ would help me feel better about myself…and will let me lift tires and stuff. I don’t think its necessarily a sillier request.

I’ll also need them to provide a lifetime supply of special underwear and some method of keeping it out of my bike chain.

Reaperman

It’s a bit scary how this forum’s font makes 15″ look like 15′–I’m trying to keep it “reasonable” here. I don’t need to jump rope with it.

GR_ATC

Go big or go home. 🙂

Ex-PH2

‘Are they going to offer tummy tucks and nose jobs to the fat and ugly?’ More important, those of us who have left behind the years which used to be termed the ‘salad days’ now want to know if we can get thermage and other skin tightening stuff, so that we can justify hitting on guys younger than we are. It’s not enough be thin; you have to be tight, too. Having saggy-baggy elephant skin is not conducive to picking up hot guys in cheap, trashy bars.

Zero Ponsdorf

Er, um… Ms. Ex, it is kinda sad that you’ve been delving into these notions. Intriguing fer sure, but come on? Most of the guys here at TAH would relish spending time with you minus all that.

Ex-PH2

Are you telling me, Ponsdorf, that you have never looked at your tummy hanging over the waistband of your short, or observed the way your entire upper body seems to be sliding downward to join your knees, and wondered why gravity has to be so cruel?

Graybeard

Ponsdorf may not have, but I look at disgust at my paunch with depressing regularity.

On the other hand, I’ve lost any illusions that a pretty girl who shows interest in me is after anything but money. The funny thing being I have none.

Zero Ponsdorf

Candidly, at 70 a little paunch is the least of my body image issues, but I do get yer point.

The fact that I still get to greet each new day offers me solace.

Ex-PH2

That’s exactly how I feel. I’m quite happy to know that I don’t have to have help standing up or getting things off the shelves of grocery stories, and don’t need someone driving me places these days.

Hack Stone

Obviously, you haven’t been to the 29 Palms Enlisted Club in the last 30 years.

Airdale (AW) USN ret.

Now they have more money , now hurry up with my claim!!!

2/17 Air Cav

Wait. This must be the Trump influence rearing its Nazi/Fascist head, right? This is Jan 2017 or no?

Green Thumb

Common sense is not dead!

SFC D

Well, it was coughing up blood this morning.

Silentium Est Aureum

I feel happy! I feel happy!

valelrie

This press release is an effort to rile up the LGBTers, by people who did not vote for Trump.

There’s a current set of rules. There will be no new rules until after Trump starts issuing executive orders. He cannot do that until after he is sworn in.

This kind of press release, intended to be scarey to someone, has happened every time the Presidency has changed hands in recent memory.

MSG Eric

Once again, I can’t get joints fixed because they’d cost too much to deal with, but they’ll make someone feel better about their identity by giving them a sex change. Yep, still bullshit.

There are so many VSOs out there doing things to help veterans because the VA can’t/won’t is ridiculous. There are plenty of things to better spend money on.

Sparks

My suggestion for therapy is a few rounds of ECT.

Sparks

I say screw them and send them to the streets for private therapy. Nothing service connected causes the mental disorder to desire a sex change.

Veritas Omnia Vincit

If the popular pundits on this topic are to be believed you are born knowing you are in the wrong body, clearly indicating this could not possibly be service related and as such shouldn’t enter into the realm of items covered by the VA.

I’ve no idea if some poor soul is born this way or not, I’m fortunate that neither myself nor anyone I am related to or know has this situation so I have zero first hand knowledge.

As with all things sexual though the prevailing wisdom indicates that our genetic build in the womb sets our sexual preferences and our image of self. Exposure to environment as we are raised to adulthood might cause some to suppress that reality until they reach adulthood, but again it’s an issue these folks were born with.

I do feel sorry for someone who is so situated, I can’t imagine what it must be like to think you’re in an alien body and I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that issue. However, it is in no way connected to their military service and frankly should be a disqualification for military service as a pre-existing and serious condition that military service can’t treat effectively as it’s not part of the mission parameters.

I wish them good luck in finding a solution to their issues, but not on the military’s budget.

Blinduser

+1

AW1Ed

Fiscal realities override Progressive’s unicorn rainbow skittle farts? Who’da thunk it?

Fjardeson

Does that mean Bradley Manning doesn’t get its free lopoffotomy?

David

Think I saw an article last week that said Manning wasn’t getting it either?
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/bradley-manning-gender-surgery-095797

I know it’s Politicao but ut reported they would pay for a shrink but not the snip job

Skippy

I have nothing to say ? ?
This shouldn’t even be a issue because
They shouldn’t be doing it in the first place
Simple

ex-OS2

I am sure there are some fine medical facilities south of the border that would be more than happy to facilitate these sex change surgeries, COD.

Silentium Est Aureum

Here’s an idea…let them have their “surgery” the same way most of us had our wisdom teeth removed. No general anesthesia, a day or two SIQ before back on duty, etc.

Grunt

Fuck, if even that. I got all four of my wisdom teeth cut and broken out of my head and sent straight back to staff duty.

Made for a fun night! The brigade SDNCO totally left me the fuck alone after finding out why I looked drugged out at the desk- I was! Haha.

Sj

Damn. I was hoping to get a biggerdictomy, all because of Agent Orange you know. I have a Dog but no doo rag. Or vest. Yet.

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[…] Hat: Venezuela – The Socialist Paradise And The Death of Democracy This Ain’t Hell: VA Backpedals On Sex-Change Surgeries, also, Roman Army Veteran Under Consideration For SecDef Weasel Zippers: Planned Parenthood Got […]

rb325th

Here is where I get hammered on…
The VA currently provides care for a very large number veterans, with non service connected issues. Some of whom are long term care patients.
Paralyzed, strokes, heart attacks, brain injuries, mental illness, etc…
I’m not sure if the VA ever provided care based solely on Service Connection or not, but if they did I am willing to bet that the majority of patients would become ineligible for all care, or a bulk of the care they receive at the VA.
I spend my days reviewing records, and providing for Transgender care would be a drop in the bucket in comparison to many of the other medical procedures/services provided by the VA.
I do not believe they should serve, and believe the Military needs to reverse course on this.

Hondo

It’s probably never been solely SC care by the VA, rb325th. But I certainly don’t remember the VA actively seeking to be every vet’s personal physician for life 30 years ago, either. My recollection is that care for priority groups 7 and 8 was pretty rare until the past decade or so.

My guess was that was budget driven. As VA budgets rose by 100+% in real terms over the last decade plus, the criteria for VA healthcare eligibility appears to have been loosened to “take care of vets”. Add the misguided push for “preemptive this and that” when no real evidence exists of either exposure or (in some cases) connection, and the VA has become little more than de facto govt-furnished healtcare for vets, virtually NQA.

One of the things that IMO should be done is that the VA should go back to providing predominately SC care only. If Uncle Sam didn’t cause the condition, IMO Uncle Sam has no obligation to pay for its treatment. And Uncle Sam is freaking flat broke today.

rb325th

You won’t get much of an argument from me there. The increase in patients occurred in the 90’s under the Clinton Administration when they opened the doors to all Veterans. Made life a living hell for providers, and service connected Veterans. 6 months to a year wait times were the norm.
I do believe we need to provide a safety net for Veterans, but there is no reason why someone with Private Health Insurance should be coming to the VA for Non Service Connected illnesses, injuries.
Aside from that, I am not convinced that gender reassignment surgeries are a medical necessity. On that basis alone, it should be denied. It’s a mental health issue.

OWB

Why should the VA pay for any elective surgeries?

Oh, yeah, because the VA became an incubator for universal health care.

Carolyn Bowman

The idea of wasting valuable resources on gender-reassignment surgery by the Department of Veterans Affairs is ridiculous. A mental condition which existed prior to one’s time in military uniform should not be considered service-connected. Counseling prior to the actual surgery, the surgery, a lifetime of hormonal medication and continual psychiatric care does not come cheap. It’s also takes up bed space in busy medical centers. The suicide rate for for those who have gone thru this voluntary mutation is significant. Those injured or made ill thru their military service should be the only recipients of the surgical procedures of the DVA. How about concentrating upon the improvement of shortfalls in the medical and psychiatric care provided to veterans first? Here’s an example: ‘Veterans Forced to Travel Thousands of Miles for Life-Saving Care’ http://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/Veterans-VA-Hospital-Transplant-Investigation-399376241.html