On Thursday, Congress unveiled the much-anticipated spending bill to avert a government shutdown. The bill, which includes funding for major government departments such as Health and Human Services and Education, featured fierce negotiations over conservative "policy riders." These policy riders included bans on coverage for gender-affirming care, DEI bans, sports bans, and more. Despite some indications that Democrats might compromise due to the sheer number of conservative policy riders, it appears those fears did not come to fruition. Democrats held firm in negotiations, and the most impactful anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ riders were nowhere to be found.
One policy rider proposed for the Food and Drug Administration would have defunded any hospital that "distributes, sells, or otherwise uses drugs that disrupt the onset of puberty or sexual development for those under 18," a measure targeting not only transgender youth but also those experiencing precocious puberty. Another rider sought to bar any government funding toward "surgical procedures or hormone therapy for the purposes of gender-affirming care" in the Department of Health and Human Services. This move would have significantly impacted private and subsidized insurance in the Healthcare Marketplace. It also aimed to bar the enforcement of President Biden's executive order titled "Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity," which broadened anti-discrimination protections for transgender individuals. Additional riders included bans on funding for any organization that "promotes transgenderism," Title IX protections for transgender youth, bans on legal challenges against states over anti-LGBTQ+ laws, book bans, DEI bans, and more. In total, over 40 riders were proposed and negotiated in the spending bills. None of these were found in the final bill.
Ultimately, the final spending bill released contained only a single anti-LGBTQ+ rider: a ban on pride flags being raised or displayed above foreign embassies. The policy, while certainly qualifying as anti-LGBTQ+ and a regression to Trump-era policies, notably does not bar personal displays of Pride flags by embassy workers. In the past, some embassies have gotten around such bans by not "flying a flag over the embassy" but rather, painting portions of the embassy in rainbow colors or draping flags on the side of buildings.
Massive Defeat For Anti-Trans And Anti-LGBTQ+ Riders In Spending Bill As Dems Hold Firm
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