In clinics across the country, an underground resistance is rising inside the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — and it’s led by doctors who refuse to abandon transgender veterans. After the Trump administration cut off gender-affirming care in March, some VA physicians began defying orders in secret, risking their jobs and reputations to continue life-saving treatments. Speaking anonymously to The Advocate, one senior VA doctor called it Lavender Scare 2.0, adding,
“We’re being surveilled. We’re told to report each other for using the word ‘transgender.’ But we’re resisting — strategically, quietly — because our patients’ lives are on the line.”
The VA’s rollback bans hormone therapy for new patients, voice training, and even bans words like “transgender” in clinical records. But inside the silence, a network is growing — doctors slipping in prescriptions, making coded referrals, and wearing rainbow pins as acts of defiance.
One physician said,
“Being queer in the world is exhausting enough. Being queer in the VA right now feels like carrying a torch in a storm. But someone has to do it.”
Veterans have filed lawsuits. Over 100 VA clinicians signed a public letter calling the new policy unethical and a betrayal of our veterans. For LGBTQ+ vets — this fight isn’t over. And inside the VA, the resistance is alive.
