US Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire — the openly gay Congressman, co-chair of the LGBTQ+ Congressional Equality Caucus and strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights — recently voted for the National Defense Authorization Act with riders that restrict gender-affirming care coverage of children of US service members.

In a statement to LGBTQ Nation, Pappas decried the use of riders politicizing such legislation and urged the Senate to strip the bill of the restrictions before sending it to President Biden, who has vowed not to support anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

“I continue to urge the Senate to make necessary adjustments to this bill,” Pappas told LGBTQ Nation, “but we cannot shrink from our responsibility to fund our national defense and provide for our service members and their families, including LGBTQ+ service members.”

Reports LGBTQ Nation:

Out gay Rep. Chris Pappas was one of 81 Democrats who voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) yesterday, a $895.2 billion military bill that included a provision restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Pappas is co-chair of the LGBTQ+ Congressional Equality Caucus and has a long history of supporting pro-LGBTQ+ legislation, but he was the only out LGBTQ+ Congress member to vote for the NDAA. 

A previous version of the NDAA reportedly banned all gender-affirming care covered by the military’s health insurance plan, TRICARE — Pappas voted against this version last June. The current NDAA provision only bans any medical treatment for “gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization” for children under 18. It’s unclear if the current legislation would ban puberty blockers (which don’t affect fertility), hormone replacement therapies (which can), or mastectomies (which are rarely ever performed on minors).

In a statement to LGBTQ Nation explaining his vote, Pappas wrote, “This legislation provides the largest pay raise for junior servicemembers in more than 25 years, helping all junior service members, including the up to 275,000 military families currently eligible for food stamps, feed their families and make ends meet. It also makes critical investments in new military housing and child development centers, increases pay for staff at Department of Defense child care centers, and addresses staffing shortages at [Veterans’ Affairs] centers in rural areas. 

“This legislation also provides vital support for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, a key support facility for our nuclear submarine fleet which generates $1.5 billion in economic impact for the state of New Hampshire,” he added.

Pappas wrote that he remains “incredibly frustrated that this process was politicized in the worst way” and blamed House Speaker Johnson (R-CA) for adding “unnecessary riders to limit care for some LGBTQ+ individuals.” 

“We should never play politics with the health and wellbeing of the LGBTQ+ community, nor should we ever allow our national defense and security to be obstructed by partisanship,” Pappas said.

Read the complete LGBTQ Nation story here.

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