The lawsuit — filed by Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic — asks for a return to the department’s health care policies in place at the start of this year, when hormone therapy was provided as part of a broad spectrum of VA medical services. Attorneys argue the abrupt change discriminates against transgender veterans and endangers their mental health.
The identity of the veteran at the center of the legal fight has not been released, but clinic officials said she served for two years on active duty and nine years in the Army National Guard.
In 2024, before separating from the military, she was assigned a 100% disability rating for post-traumatic stress disorder. She shifted her health care from Tricare to VA with the promise that her hormone therapy would continue uninterrupted.
But in March, Veterans Affairs officials announced plans to phase out all medical treatments for gender dysphoria, including hormone therapy and any surgical options for transgender veterans.
In a statement in March, VA Secretary Doug Collins said that “VA should not be focused on helping veterans attempt to change their sex” and said veterans who wanted to continue those services would have to pay for them on their own, outside the department’s health care system.
Department officials have said the move was both legally sound and necessary to refocus the agency on critical services to benefit all veterans.
But the lawsuit, filed in the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, charges that decision was made without any legal basis and represents a denial of the care promised to the petitioner. Attorneys asked the court to intervene swiftly on the case, since the petitioner’s supply of hormone medication will run out later this summer.
Estimates on how many individuals the VA policy changes will impact have varied widely.
The National Center for Transgender Equality has put the number of transgender veterans in America today at more than 134,000. But VA officials have said they believe fewer than 9,000 of the department’s 9.1 million veterans enrolled in medical care services are transgender, and will see changes in care as a result of the new policy.
The move comes just days after a Defense Department deadline for transgender troops to resign from the ranks, under a new policy banning their service.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
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