NBJC Urges Biden to Veto NDAA Due to Discriminatory Provision Targeting Transgender Youth
CONTACT: Jordan Wilhelmi | jordan@unbendablemedia.com
WASHINGTON – Following the Senate’s passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, which still included a discriminatory and targeted ban of some gender-affirming care for transgender children of service members, I wanted to make sure you had comment from Dr. David J. Johns, CEO & Executive Director of the National Black Justice Collective, a leading Black LGBTQ+ civil rights organization:
“We urge the White House to publicly, and unequivocally, commit to vetoing this version of the NDAA. It is deeply troubling that Republicans, previewing their Party’s platform of bigotry and targeted discrimination over the next four years, embedded a provision denying transgender children of military service members access to health care. And it is disgraceful that Senate Democrats caved to the ‘anti-woke’ mob and allowed it to pass their chamber, sending it to the White House.
“With today’s vote, Congress has shown a complete disregard for military families and a willingness to exploit children as political pawns. It is the MAGA playbook, America First Agenda, and Project 2025 in action. Children do not ask to be born and all youth deserve dignity, respect, and access to life-saving health care—not to be used as scapegoats for political gain.
“Conservatives have been fomenting this culture war, for years, as a means of advancing their own careers, and at the expense of the lives, dignity, and health care of the LGBTQ+/Same-gender loving(SGL) community. President Biden cannot capitulate to their unfounded and hate-fueled demands and must veto this bill.”
According to Carnegie Endowment research:
- The discriminatory provisions in the NDAA will have a disproportionate impact on the families of Black servicemembers. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, while only 13.3% of the U.S. population, the Black community makes up nearly 20% of active duty servicemembers. Black families in need of gender affirming care will be impacted at higher levels due to our increased representation in the rank and file but lower representation in roles with higher pay. Now that servicemembers with transgender dependents will have to pay out of pocket for treatment and medications that other families will be able to access under coverage, our families will have even less resources to cover other basic necessities while their loved ones are deployed overseas or working hard for our country at bases around the nation.
- Despite being one-fifth of the military, Black servicemembers are only 9% of active duty officers, and only 6.5% are generals, pointing to a need for the new diversity, equity, and inclusion programs the recently passed NDAA will ban.
If you’d be interested in speaking with someone further about the NDAA’s anti-trans provision, we’d be happy to offer NBJC spokesperson and Black LGBTQ+ leader Tiera Craig, a US Army Combat Veteran.