D.C. - The Military Times is reporting that Veterans Affairs officials have decided to drop controversial plans to allow sex-change surgeries for transgender veterans due to budget constraints.
The move … 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.”
