Work yet to be done

As the Palm Center closes its doors in late 2022, we believe that there are at least seven areas of law, regulation and policy that are related to military service by LGBTQ+ Americans and that call for ongoing work: (1) non-binary service members must serve as men or as women, as there is no option to serve in gender-X; (2) despite the 2022 lifting of the intersex ban, a few remaining inconsistencies in medical accession regulations preclude some applicants who were born with intersex conditions from serving; (3) the VA does not offer gender affirming surgery in its medical benefits package; (4) TRICARE is prohibited by statute from offering gender affirming surgery to family members and dependents of service members; (5) the Defense Department has not established a Defense Advisory Committee for LGBTQ+ service members; (6) the VA has not established a research center for LGBTQ+ veterans; and (7) inclusive policies for LGBT service members and for women remain vulnerable to rollback.