Keri Griffin, Orlando VA’s LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Program Coordinator. (Photo courtesy Orlando VA)
ORLANDO | Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 254 into law May 17, essentially banning gender-affirming care for many members of Florida’s transgender community and making it difficult for the rest to find readily available services.
Central Florida health care facilities that had been offering gender-affirming care began restricting care, and in some cases completely getting rid of those services. One health care group that has remained unaffected by the new law is the Veterans Health Administration.
“I think people got confused when these laws were passed that we may not be able to offer services anymore because we reside in the state, but the laws are very clear that they impact the state,” says Keri Griffin, Orlando VA’s LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Program Coordinator. “Veterans Health Administration falls under the federal government so we are not bound by the state laws which makes a huge difference in the care we are able to offer.”
Since the passage of the bill, which was one of a collection of anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed this year by the Florida Legislature, the state’s VA hospitals and clinics have seen an increase in transgender veterans seeking gender-affirming care, and the Orlando VA is no exception.
“It has been an influx; I don’t even have a number yet,” Griffin says. “I’ll be interested to see all the data once I am able to pull the numbers on all my consults.”
Griffin, who has been working with LGBTQ+ veterans through the VA for the last 13 years, says that she has seen her weekly consultations go from an average of about one a week to at least four a week, even having as many as five in one day.
“Veterans who didn’t choose to get their care at the VA before are now feeling that they can’t or won’t be able to get their care in the community, so they are now coming here,” she says.
The Orlando VA continues to offer gender-affirming hormone therapy to its transgender patients, as well as services that may not initially come to mind as gender-affirming therapy such as speech therapy, prosthetics, mental health counseling and more.
The VA is also currently working on bringing gender-affirming surgeries to the list of services it offers. Since the announcement, which came from VA Secretary Denis McDonough at the Orlando VA during its LGBTQ+ Pride celebration in June 2021, a team of 100 VA volunteers — which includes Griffin — have been meeting to get the necessary processes in place.
“The VA system is the largest health care system in the country and making changes is like turning a cruise ship, it moves slowly but we are still moving in that direction,” Griffin says.
Griffin adds that the group continues to meet and has a goal of November 2024.
“There are certain surgeries that we will be doing at each VA facility, things we are already doing — things like orchiectomies, hysterectomies, chest removal, breast augmentation — we’re already doing those surgeries for other reasons, just not under the diagnosis of gender dysphoria,” Griffin says. “The more complex and complicated genital surgeries, we are going to have centers of excellence set up throughout the country where veteran will have to travel to.”
While no set number of centers of excellence have been determined, Griffins says it will probably be somewhere between four and 12 facilities, with Miami most likely being the closest to Central Florida.
For more information on all of the Orlando VA’s services, visit VA.gov/Orlando-Health-Care.
