VHA memorandum "Reiterating Executive Order Compliance Responsibilities" eliminates gender-identity programming and redesignates LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinators

Bartrum directed VHA senior leaders, the directors of all 18 Veterans Integrated Service Networks, and VA medical center directors that "VHA must eliminate all DEI/DEIA programs, gender-identity based and gender-ideology based initiatives, and any activities, internal or external, that promote gender identity or gender ideology." The memo bars use of "VHA funds, official time, facilities, or resources" for "meetings, training, working groups, promotional materials, events, or any activities promoting gender-ideology or gender-identity"; requires that local policies, SharePoint sites, communications, websites, training materials and uniform standards be brought into conformity with the presidential directives; and redesignates "LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinators" as "care coordinators" serving "all Veterans, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, or sexual orientation." It is expressly framed as implementation of Executive Order 14168 (two sexes / "gender ideology") and the executive order terminating federal DEI programs (see section 1). VA clinicians reported to The Advocate that the directive placed the decade-old LGBTQ+ Health Program infrastructure, the 10-week "PRIDE in All Who Served" group health-education program, and the CBT-PRISM cognitive-behavioral intervention for LGBTQ+ veterans with PTSD and chronic pain at risk of elimination. The memo states that veterans will continue to receive services and that congressionally authorized programs are unaffected.