Military veterans can now identify as trans or nonbinary in their medical records
Stars and Stripes.“Our goal is to align the department’s policies and procedures with the president’s vision for a more inclusive government,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement. “All Veterans, all people, have a basic right to be identified as they define themselves.
This is essential for their general well-being and overall health. Knowing the gender identity of transgender and gender diverse Veterans helps us better serve them.”This change continue’s McDonough’s efforts to make the military more inclusive for various personnel, including LGBTQ service members.
Shortly after his confirmation, McDonough initiated an agency-wide review of the VA’s policies to determine how to make it a more welcoming and affirming place for LGBTQ patients and employees.An 18-member task force was created to handle the review, ultimately issuing 88 recommendations for how the department could be more inclusive.
One of the recommendations involved collecting information from patients and employees about their race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation — which allows the VA to collect and break down data on demographics to better target communities through outreach efforts and identify trends or patterns that indicate potential problems affecting certain groups, in order to resolve them quickly.The VA also created a smaller task force charged with developing policies and implementing them based on those recommendations.
