Wilson Q&A: barriers for LGBTQ+ veterans and discharge status issues

What are some of the barriers that are stopping LGBTQ veterans from accessing care?

And how are you working to eliminate those?

We ended up having, there was a hearing around this LGBTQ plus, and one of the major components is that LGBTQ plus veterans are not self-identifying.

And we, as, and that's why we're working very diligently within our agency to increase that number, because if,

LGBTQ plus veterans are not self-identifying, then it also makes it,

you know, I don't want to say it's harder to advocate, but it also shows that an agency, we're not doing what we need to do so veterans can also feel comfortable to come to our agency and self-identify.

So within the LGBT, with us having LGBTQ plus liaison and working along with other LGBTQ plus,

organizations, we do hope that the number of self-identifications of LGBTQ plus veterans increases over the years and we are going to be monitoring seeing that and I'll pass this over to Nicole.

Thank you for that question and to barriers specifically what we're seeing is what's coming down from the federal level so whether it is the trans ban, whether we're seeing

seeing the discharge statuses, still the ramifications of don't ask, don't tell.

That is something that we are seeing greatly as stigma or as reasons for not reaching out.

For our agency, we help a veteran no matter what, what their discharge status is, what their orientation is.

We help any veteran and family member.

So for us, we've been seeing that, and that's what we've been working on, is how do we ensure that we're assisting veterans with their discharge status as well if that is an issue.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.