Advocacy groups welcome defeat of NDAA anti-transgender amendment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — LGBT advocacy groups have praised a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives voting down a vicious amendment that would have ripped away medically necessary health care for transgender service members and military dependents. Proposed by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), the amendment would have barred access to transition-related health care — including…

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US House rejects anti-transgender Hartzler amendment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House just defeated the discriminatory Hartzler Amendment by a close 214-209 vote. The measure, which would have barred the Defense Department from expending funds on transition-related care, was introduced by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) as part of the fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill. The Washington Blade reported that Hartzler had insisted…

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House Rules Committee voting on anti-transgender National Defense Authorization Act amendment

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) introduced an amendment onto the National Defense Authorization Act Wednesday evening that would deny health care coverage for transgender service members and their military dependents. Hartzler earlier tried to ban transgender people from serving altogether in the House Armed Services Committee, and when that failed, she turned to…

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Congress passes annual defense bill without anti-LGBTQ amendment

Thursday, the U.S House of Representatives and U.S. Senate passed the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The final version of the legislation did not include a House-passed provision that would have dramatically expanded religious discrimination with taxpayer funds and undermined President Obama’s executive order prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in federal contracting. The provision —…

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House anti-LGBTQ amendment to Defense Budget Bill ‘designed to destroy people’s livelihoods’

WASHINGTON, DC—The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund is describing yesterday’s passage of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act — that would strip non-discrimination protections from the millions of employees of federal contractors— as “designed to destroy people’s livelihoods.” “It’s an absolute disgrace that the House Majority Leadership would push this outrageous amendment…

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