WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate has passed the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes harmful provisions targeting the rights of LGBTQI+ service members and their families and dismantling opportunities and strategies to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the military.
In response, Gaylynn Burroughs, vice president of education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center, issued the following statement:
“Mere days before service members are set to miss a paycheck because of the government shutdown, Senate Republicans continue to ignore the national health care crisis and find new ways to inject ideological priorities into what should be bipartisan efforts to strengthen our armed forces and support military families. The NDAA bill includes harmful amendments that will deny gender-affirming surgical care to service members and adult dependents in military families, bar transgender women from sports at service academies, and gut protections that ensure equal opportunity. These measures are cruel, unnecessary, and do nothing to make our country safer. Instead, they hurt the very people who serve it and deter potential recruits from a career in service to this nation, ultimately weakening our military and compromising our national security. Such provisions that divide our military have no place in the final bill, and Congress must act to strip out these provisions before final passage.”