On June 12, the Trump administration ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to eliminate all health programs for LGBTQ+ veterans, strip the LGBTQ+ designation from a nationwide network of care coordinators created specifically to serve them, and shut down initiatives designed to address the documented health disparities facing LGBTQ+ people who served this country. Facilities have 14 days to certify compliance.

These are not bureaucratic titles. They are lifelines.

For over a decade, the VA has maintained a network of care coordinators at every medical facility in the country dedicated to serving LGBTQ+ veterans — created specifically because the VA itself documented that veterans who are LGBTQ+ face unique barriers to care, including stigma, discrimination, and elevated risks for depression, anxiety, PTSD, suicidal ideation, homelessness, and food insecurity. The programs being eliminated — including PRIDE in All Who Served and CBT-PRISM — were developed in direct response to those disparities and recognized by the VA as best practices. Veterans who participated in PRIDE in All Who Served reported reductions in depression, anxiety, and suicide risk.

The former executive director of the VA's program for LGBTQ+ veterans said it plainly: veterans who are LGBTQ+ have higher rates of suicidal ideation than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. Eliminating the programs designed to reach them does not make them healthier. It puts them at greater risk.

These veterans served their country. They earned their healthcare. The Trump administration is taking it away not because the programs failed — but because of who they serve.

We're calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs to immediately rescind the June 12 directive, restore the care coordinator program for LGBTQ+ veterans, and preserve every health initiative developed to address the documented needs of veterans who are LGBTQ+.