Advocate NL 7/23/26

Hello folks, Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez back in your inbox this Thursday, with another scoop from The Advocate's Christopher Wiggins.Outside the Washington, D.C. office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, right below the listed name, is a plaque with this quote: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.”Those words were said by President Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1865, only 41 days before his assassination. According to the VA site, where those words also live (unless they were to magically disappear), "This singular act codified a social contract between the Nation and our Veterans that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would always be there to help Veterans and their families heal and recover from the illnesses, injuries, or wounds sustained in service to America, and successfully reintegrate into civilian life."If you were to ask some LGBTQ+ service members though -- or apparently this current government -- whether that "social contract" applies to all veterans, you would get some interesting answers.As Wiggins reports, the Trump administration's VA has begun dismantling the national infrastructure supporting its LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator program, ending specialized meetings and communications, archiving online resources, and converting employees into general care coordinators, according to an internal email obtained by The Advocate.The changes have left coordinators across the country feeling “shock, anger, and betrayal,” according to an anonymous VA health care provider involved with the program. “This is the VA’s version of Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law — it’s blatant homophobia and an attack on LGBTQ veterans.” They had a lot more to share with Wiggins.All this comes as Wiggins also reports that a federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to knock most of the transgender service members out of a lawsuit (led by retired Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ire