Hirono joins Democratic senators in introducing legislation to protect parents of transgender children

Hawaiʻi US Sen. Mazie Hirono has joined 20 Democratic colleagues in introducing an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. If passed by Congress, the amendment would remove language that would strip away service members’ parental rights to access medically necessary health care for their transgender children.

Hirono is a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support. The US House of Representatives passed legislation that includes language that bans health care for transgender kids and TRICARE patients under the age of 18.

“Thousands of transgender children, whose families serve in our armed forces, rely on access to medically necessary health care,” Hirono said. “This draconian policy would strip away this access, endangering the lives and well-being of these children and their families. This amendment will help ensure that our service members and their families have the freedom to make their own choices about the care their kids need — because this decision should be made by families, not politicians.”

Every major medical and mental health association in the US, representing more than 1.3 million US doctors, supports access to this medically necessary, evidence-based health care for transgender people. If the House-passed legislation becomes law, it is estimated that thousands of transgender children of service members would not be able to access the health care that their parents had approved. 

For the full text of the proposed amendment, click here.