Erased Protections, Hidden Costs
Why the VA quietly deleted nondiscrimination rules—and what it could mean for your care.
🔹The Gist
The VA erased rules that once protected veterans from being denied care for who they are.
No vote. No warning. Just gone.
This isn’t a glitch—it’s a pattern. And we’ve got the paper trail, the FOIA, and the will to fight it.
No vote. No warning. Just gone.
This isn’t a glitch—it’s a pattern. And we’ve got the paper trail, the FOIA, and the will to fight it.
No vote. No warning. Just gone.
This isn’t a glitch—it’s a pattern. And we’ve got the paper trail, the FOIA, and the will to fight it.
The VA didn’t announce it.
There was no press release, no public forum, and no warning to the veterans who depend on it.
But sometime in early 2025, the Department of Veterans Affairs quietly removed language from its bylaws that had previously protected veterans from discrimination based on political affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation, or national origin.
And they did it without explanation.
🔍 What We Know
The Guardian broke the story on June 16, 2025. According to their investigation:
“References to those characteristics were quietly removed from the agency’s rules – known as bylaws – which establish how doctors and other medical professionals treat patients.”
— The Guardian, June 16, 2025
In other words, these protections weren’t repealed or replaced through law. They were simply deleted.
The New Yorker later confirmed the removals and cited veteran advocates who warned it could lead to selective treatment—or no treatment at all.
A VA whistleblower told The Daily Beast:
“This opens the door for VA providers to refuse treatment to veterans they view as political opponents—with no disciplinary consequences.”
If this sounds like an exaggeration, it’s not. The VA admitted to the Guardian that the deletions occurred but offered no legal rationale or replacement policy.
🩺 Staff Shortage Crisis Meets Political Discretion
The timing couldn’t be worse.
Veterans across the country are already facing delayed care, canceled appointments, and months-long waits for basic services due to staffing shortages and system-wide strain.
Now, add “political discretion” to the mix—and you create a system where vulnerable veterans may fall through the cracks, not because of resource limits, but because of who they voted for or whether they’ve ever spoken out.
Let’s be clear: Most VA providers care deeply and serve without prejudice. But under these new conditions, the system no longer protects those who do the right thing. It shields those who don’t.
📜 The Timeline of Erasure
Pre-2025: VA bylaws explicitly prohibit discrimination based on political affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation, and national origin
Jan 2025: Executive guidance from the Trump administration encourages broader clinician discretion
Spring 2025: VA amends internal bylaws, quietly deleting nondiscrimination clauses
June 2025: The Guardian uncovers the removal; the VA confirms without offering justification
What’s even more concerning is that this may not be an isolated case.
🕵️♀️ This Isn’t an Isolated Policy—It’s a Pattern
This isn’t the first time the VA has made major changes without transparency.
Anti-Christian Tip Line: In early 2025, VA Secretary Doug Collins quietly established a dedicated email for reporting “anti-Christian bias” in VA facilities. That address—Anti-ChristianBiasReporting@va.gov—was not published in official press releases but was shared internally across VA networks. No equivalent bias-reporting channel was created for other faiths, raising serious questions about neutrality and equity in care.
Fort Bragg Renaming Dodge: Earlier this year, VA officials claimed in internal memos that Fort Bragg “was not named after a Confederate figure,” despite overwhelming historical documentation to the contrary. This wasn’t just revisionism—it was an attempt to avoid implementing a mandated base renaming under federal law.
📋 File a FOIA—Get the Truth While It’s Still Available
This newsletter is about transparency and action. So we’re doing both.
We’ve prepared a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding that the VA release:
Any internal memos, emails, directives, or redlined documents that authorize or discuss the removal of language prohibiting discrimination based on political affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation, or national origin;
Copies of any amended bylaws from 2025 that reflect these deletions or revisions;
Any legal justification, internal commentary, or policy analysis related to the rationale and expected impact of these changes.
📄 Click here to download the ready-to-send FOIA request (PDF)
It’s your right to file. And it’s our job to hold the system accountable.
🚨 Take Action Now
We need to raise our voices—loudly, legally, and together.
Share this article
Post it to your social networks, forward it to your contacts, and tell your veteran community.
Contact Congress
Tell them: “We need full transparency from the VA. Show us the memo. Reverse the policy.”
Reach out to media
Journalists need to know this story isn’t going away.
🗣️ Contact the Media. Contact Congress.
Tag national outlets:
@CNN, @MSNBC, @FoxNews, @NPR, @PBS, @washingtonpost, @nytimes, @AP, @Reuters
Email editors & reporters:
letters@nytimes.com
managingeditor@washpost.com
editor@theatlantic.com
tips@propublica.org
assignments@reuters.com
Contact Congress
Use this tool to call your reps: 5Calls.org
Or contact the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs:
Mailing Address
House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
364 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone
Office: (202) 225-3527
Fax: (202) 225-5486
Find your Representatives:
This isn’t just about policy. It’s about principle.
Veterans earned their care with their service. We deserve to know who is rewriting the rules—and why they’re doing it in the dark.
If this can happen quietly, it can happen again.
Not on our watch.
No minority ever gets a glimpse of true freedom with liberty by fighting the fight alone.