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   In article    
      
   A group of transgender veterans filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to   
   force the Department of Veteran Affairs to begin providing and   
   paying for gender-affirming surgeries.   
      
   The lawsuit from the Transgender American Veterans Association seeks   
   to compel the VA to codify in its regulations verbal assurances the   
   department has made that it would begin providing those services,   
   said Rebekka Eshler, the president of the association.   
      
   She said the surgeries are needed to reduce the risk of suicides,   
   depression, and psychological distress for transgender people who   
   live with gender dysphoria.   
      
   “It would also mean that those veterans do not have to seek this   
   care through private doctors, which is often prohibitively   
   expensive,” the transgender veterans association said in its   
   lawsuit, which it said was filed in the United States Court of   
   Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington.   
      
   A spokesperson for the Department of Veterans Affairs said it does   
   not comment on ongoing litigation. But he pointed to 2021 statements   
   from Veteran Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, who said the VA was   
   beginning a years long rulemaking process that would result in   
   providing gender-affirming surgeries. McDonough said the VA would   
   use the time to “develop capacity to meet the surgical needs” of   
   transgender veterans.   
      
   The decision, he said, will allow “transgender vets to go through   
   the full gender confirmation process with VA by their side."   
      
   The veterans first petitioned for the rule change in May of 2016.   
   Since then, has VA has held hearings and prepared multiple proposed   
   rules for cost-benefit analysis, the association said. But while the   
   VA currently provides hormone therapy and other services to   
   transgender veterans at some locations, it has failed to change its   
   rules in a timely manner and provide any coverage for the surgeries,   
   the group said.   
      
   “I get phone calls from veterans that are so in crisis that they are   
   calling us because they can't handle it anymore and they are wanting   
   to go kill themselves,” Eshler said.   
      
   Natalie Kastner, a 39-year-old disabled veteran from Texas, said she   
   went to the VA in 2022 seeking surgery. When doctors there denied   
   her request, she said she took a knife and attempted self   
   castration. She hit an artery and almost died, but doctors were able   
   to save her life.   
      
   “I did not go into that bathroom looking to kill myself,” she said.   
   “I went into that bathroom looking to fix myself. I can only imagine   
   how many others have done the same and have not been so lucky and   
   have simply been listed as a suicide.”   
      
   Eshler said she hopes the lawsuit also will standardize the care   
   transgender veterans receive, which said said can vary from state to   
   state and even clinic to clinic.   
      
   The lawsuit asks the court to compel the VA to respond to the 2016   
   petition within 30 days.   
      
   https://news.yahoo.com/transgender-veterans-sue-gender-affirming-   
   152415496.html   
      
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