The final compromise on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by Congress prevents the Pentagon from mandating the use of personal pronouns regarding official military documents.
According to The Daily Caller, the compromise reached by Congress regarding the NDAA prevents the Pentagon from either requiring or prohibiting troops or Department of Defense employees from using personal pronouns in official military documents.
The bill’s conference report states, “The Secretary of Defense may not require or prohibit a member of the armed forces or a civilian employee of the Department of Defense to identify the gender or personal pronouns of such member or employee in any official correspondence of the Department.”
The Daily Caller reported that despite Republican Party leadership pushing for gender ideology to be entirely removed from the U.S. military, an amendment to the NDAA for fiscal year 2024 clarified that the secretary of defense cannot prohibit Department of Defense staff or military members from listing preferred gender pronouns in official communications.
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The final compromise of the NDAA bill reached by Congress, which is expected to be signed into law, also removed the House’s amendment that would have prevented the Pentagon from using taxpayer funding to cover the cost of military members traveling for abortion services or transgender treatments.
According to a copy of the House’s version of the NDAA bill that was passed in July, the bill would have reversed the Biden administration’s abortion policy at the Pentagon and would have prevented military insurance from covering the cost of gender-transition hormone treatments and transgender surgeries.
The Daily Caller reported that Senate Republicans did not include similar amendments in their version of the NDAA for fiscal year 2024. The outlet noted that by not including similar amendments, Republicans on the conference committee were put in a position that ultimately allowed the amendments passed by House Republicans to be removed as the Senate and the House worked toward a compromise for the final bill.
