I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5196 
To expand protections under the Exceptional Family Member Program of 
the Department of Defense for transgender dependents of members of 
the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 11, 2023 
Mr. PANETTA (for himself, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
VEASEY, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. 
NADLER, Mr. LIEU, Ms. TITUS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. 
HAYES, Ms. SCANLON, and Mr. TORRES of New York) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To expand protections under the Exceptional Family Member 
Program of the Department of Defense for transgender 
dependents of members of the Armed Forces, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Armed Forces 
Transgender Dependent Protection Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF PROTECTIONS FOR TRANSGENDER 
DEPENDENTS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 
FORCES UNDER THE EXCEPTIONAL FAMILY 
MEMBER PROGRAM. 
Section 1781c of title 10, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (d)(3), by adding at the end 
the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(F) Prohibition of assignment of such a mem-
ber (except at the election of such member) to a per-
manent duty location in a jurisdiction where foreign, 
State, or local law restricts medically necessary 
treatment for a medical or educational special need. 
Such a member who is serving at a permanent duty 
location in such a jurisdiction while such government 
enacts a law establishing such restriction may, not 
later than 30 days after such enactment, elect to be 
reassigned by the Secretary concerned to a perma-
nent duty location not located in such a jurisdic-
tion.’’; 
(2) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘(as defined 
by the Secretary in regulations for purposes of this 
section)’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
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‘‘(i) MEDICAL OR EDUCATIONAL SPECIAL NEED DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘medical or educational 
special need’ includes the following: 
‘‘(1) A potentially life-threatening or chronic 
condition that requires— 
‘‘(A) follow-up support more than once a 
year; or 
‘‘(B) specialty care. 
‘‘(2) A current and chronic mental health condi-
tion. 
‘‘(3) A frequent need for mental health care. 
‘‘(4) Asthma or other chronic respiratory condi-
tion that includes wheezing. 
‘‘(5) Gender dysphoria. 
‘‘(6) A condition that requires— 
‘‘(A) adaptive equipment; 
‘‘(B) assistive technology devices or serv-
ices; or 
‘‘(C) environmental or architectural consid-
erations. 
‘‘(7) Special educational need.’’. 
Æ 
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