House Democrats call for removal of provisions targeting LGBTQ service members from NDAA

More than 160 House Democrats on Friday called for provisions related to LGBTQ service members and their dependents to be removed from Congress’s annual defense policy bill, arguing that the GOP-backed amendments discriminate against LGBTQ people and threaten military readiness and retention. 

The Republican-controlled House in June passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with amendments that would restrict access to gender-affirming health care for transgender service members and their families and ban LGBTQ pride flags and drag performances from military bases. 

The House bill, which passed on a largely party-line 217-199 vote, would also prevent the Department of Defense’s school system from providing materials that promote “radical gender ideology” to students, which the bill defines as concepts or curricula that suggest sex is fluid or that state a person can socially or medically transition to a different gender.  

Six Democrats — none of whom signed Friday’s letter — voted in favor of the measure, while three Republicans opposed it.  

“These sections of the NDAA were constructed to score political points rather than support and invest in our most important operational advantage: our service members,” 162 House Democrats argued in Friday’s letter to leaders on the House and Senate Armed Services committees. 

“If service members are concerned for their health care, their right to exist, or the wellbeing of their children and loved ones, they cannot focus on their jobs, thereby weakening military readiness and retention rates,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chairs of the Transgender Equality Task Force, and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. 

“Ensuring our ranks reflect the diversity of the American people is essential to the morale and cohesion of our Armed Forces and to our national security,” they wrote. “We strongly urge you to remove these harmful sections from the NDAA during conference negotiations.” 

The Democratic-controlled Senate has yet to vote on its version of the bill, which also includes restrictions on gender-affirming care.