26 Senate Democrats Help Pass Military NDAA Containing Trans Sports, Surgery Ban, No Protection For US Troop Deployments

The bill passed by a wide margin in the Senate and will be the starting point for negotiations with the House, which contain more severe anti-trans riders.

Wikimedia Commons, John Brighenti

Over the past two weeks, the shutdown fight has dominated Washington, leaving a stack of fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills waiting for their turn at the negotiating table. As LGBTQ+ people have watched nervously to see whether Democrats would hold the line against anti-trans and anti-queer riders, another “must-pass” measure has quietly advanced through Congress: the National Defense Authorization Act. In 2024, the NDAA became the vehicle for one of the most consequential betrayals of transgender Americans by national Democrats in recent memory, after Democrats allowed provisions targeting trans military family members and dependents to stand when they had control of the Senate and White House. This year, history is repeating itself. After weeks of delay amid the shutdown chaos, Senate Democrats on Tuesday night dropped key objections and allowed a vote to proceed on the bill—ultimately passing the Senate version of the bill, complete with anti-trans culture-war riders, an anti-DEI clause, and no limits on the domestic deployment of U.S. troops.

The bill, which cleared the Senate 77–20 last night, sets the rules for how the military operates and spends its money. Traditionally, the NDAA has avoided the culture-war baggage that weighs down other legislation. But in recent years, Republicans have turned it into a vehicle for their favorite grievances—and this year is no exception. The Senate version includes three key provisions targeting LGBTQ+ people: a ban on transgender participation in sports at military academies, extending even to visiting students in intercollegiate competitions; a prohibition on Defense Department funding for gender-affirming surgeries, which could also sweep in defense contractors as well as trans military spouses; and a measure gutting equal opportunity and diversity protections across the armed forces.

At first, Senate Democrats blocked the measure. But by Tuesday night, Republicans and Democrats had struck a deal to move it forward. Rather than demand that key provisions be stripped or amended, Democrats opted for a series of doomed amendment votes—symbolic gestures that allowed them to register dissent without altering the bill’s substance. Among them was a proposal from Sen. Tammy Duckworth to restrict the president’s ability to deploy U.S. troops on domestic soil without congressional approval, a flashpoint issue amid recent military mobilizations in major American cities. The final vote passed easily, with the majority of Democrats joining all but three Republicans to approve the bill.

Democratic senators voting in favor of the NDAA included Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland; Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper of Colorado; Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut; Lisa Blunt Rochester and Chris Coons of Delaware; Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona; Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia; Mazie Hirono of Hawaii; Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan; Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; Jacky Rosen of Nevada; Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire; Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico; Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer of New York; John Fetterman of Pennsylvania; Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island; and Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia.

Democratic senators who voted against or did not vote on the NDAA included Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin; Cory Booker and Andy Kim of New Jersey; Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington; Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin of Illinois; Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden of Oregon; Chris Murphy of Connecticut; Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff of California; Brian Schatz of Hawaii; Tina Smith of Minnesota; Chris Van Hollen of Maryland; and Peter Welch of Vermont. Independent senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont also voted no. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada did not vote.

The bill now heads into conference negotiations with the House, where the version passed earlier this year is loaded with even more anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ riders. Many of those measures were championed by Rep. Nancy Mace, who infamously launched into anti-trans slurs on the House floor during debate. The House provisions go far beyond the Senate’s, including an all-ages ban on military health insurance coverage for gender-affirming care, restrictions on transgender athletes at military facilities, a bathroom ban on bases, a ban on pride flags, and a clause excluding gender identity from all military data collection. According to Roll Call, the Senate’s passage sets the stage for formal conference talks where negotiators could fold some—or all—of the House provisions into the final bill. The legislation will then return to both chambers for final approval and will likely reach the president’s desk before year’s end.

The Senate’s capitulation on LGBTQ+, DEI, and other provisions may offer an early preview of its priorities in the broader shutdown fight. The government has now been shuttered for ten days, with Democrats and Republicans deadlocked over both a clean continuing resolution and full-year funding bills for 2026—many of which are packed with anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ riders. While the NDAA isn’t technically an appropriations bill, its annual passage and ties to defense funding make it an important bellwether. Earlier this month, as the shutdown loomed, LGBTQ+ advocates flooded congressional offices with calls urging lawmakers to strip anti-LGBTQ+ riders from all must-pass legislation. For now, those provisions take a backseat in the shutdown talks as such talks currently center primarily on a short-term continuing resolution—but the NDAA marks the first break in that line of defense, and it’s likely to test the limits of how far Democrats are willing to go to defend equality and civil rights when the fiscal year 2026 funding bills are finally negotiated.

The National Women’s Law Center condemned passage of the NDAA with the anti-trans and anti-DEI provisions in a press release this morning, stating, “Mere days before service members are set to miss a paycheck because of the government shutdown, Senate Republicans continue to ignore the national health care crisis and find new ways to inject ideological priorities into what should be bipartisan efforts to strengthen our armed forces and support military families. The NDAA bill includes harmful amendments that will deny gender-affirming surgical care to service members and adult dependents in military families, bar transgender women from sports at service academies, and gut protections that ensure equal opportunity. These measures are cruel, unnecessary, and do nothing to make our country safer. Instead, they hurt the very people who serve it and deter potential recruits from a career in service to this nation, ultimately weakening our military and compromising our national security. Such provisions that divide our military have no place in the final bill, and Congress must act to strip out these provisions before final passage.”

This is not the first time Senate Democrats have approved anti-transgender riders to national bills. In 2024, with control of the Senate and the Presidency, they passed a National Defense Authorization Act that contained a Tricare ban for gender affirming care for children dependents. Senate Leadership refused to hold a vote to remove that provision led by Senator Baldwin of Wisconsin, with GLAAD condemning the measure at the time.

Several other major bills are still winding their way through Congress as the shutdown grinds on. Lawmakers continue to spar over a “clean” continuing resolution free of anti-LGBTQ+ riders, but even if that passes, it would merely delay the larger fight in the full-year appropriations bills for fiscal year 2026. Those measures are stacked with some of the most sweeping national anti-LGBTQ+ provisions ever proposed—from blanket federal bans on transgender healthcare funding to attacks on insurance protections and nationwide sports bans. The outcome of those negotiations will determine whether equality survives the next year of federal policymaking. You can contact your elected officials to weigh in on their NDAA votes and the upcoming funding negotiations here.