Southern Oregon Peace Vets

07/24/2026

I hope many of you can attend one or more of these Hiroshima-Nagasaki events in early August:

06/14/2026

Trump admin eliminates health care programs for LGBTQ+ veterans (The Advocate):
The Department of Veterans Affairs has ordered health facilities nationwide to eliminate gender identity-based initiatives and strip the LGBTQ+ designation from a network of medical coordinators created to help LGBTQ+ veterans navigate care, according to an internal memorandum obtained by The Advocate.

The June 12 directive, signed by Veterans Health Administration Under Secretary for Health John J. Bartrum, the VA official who oversees the nation's largest integrated health care system, is the latest move by the Trump administration to remove references to LGBTQ+ and transgender identities from federal programs. It also raises new questions about the future of a specialized support network the VA created to address documented disparities affecting LGBTQ+ people who served their country and earned medical care at the agency.

Medical professionals at U.S.-based VA hospitals who reviewed the memorandum told The Advocate that staff members immediately began expressing concern. “People are worried this will mean loss of programming and services that are uniquely designed for LGBTQ+ veterans,” one provider at a VA medical center told The Advocate under the condition of anonymity to speak freely.
Employees are questioning whether programs such as PRIDE in All Who Served and CBT-PRISM could survive under the new guidance, the provider said.

PRIDE in All Who Served is a VA-developed, 10-week health education and support program for LGBTQ+ veterans that the department has recognized as a best practice. The VA has reported that participants experienced reductions in depression, anxiety, su***de risk, and identity-related stigma, along with increased social connectedness and engagement with care. CBT-PRISM is an affirmative mental health intervention that adapts cognitive behavioral therapy to address the effects of stigma, discrimination, and minority stress on LGBTQ+ veterans. Researchers have been working to expand the program throughout the Veterans Health Administration. Both programs were developed in response to disparities that the VA itself has repeatedly acknowledged affect LGBTQ+ veterans.

The June 12 memorandum directs Veterans Health Administration facilities to comply with President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and federal recognition of transgender people. Among the changes outlined in the directive, LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinators are to be redesignated simply as Care Coordinators.

"VHA must eliminate all DEI/DEIA programs, gender-identity based and gender-ideology based initiatives, and any activities, internal or external, that promote gender identity or gender ideology," the memorandum states.

The memo instructs facilities to review websites, communications, policies, training materials, SharePoint sites, meetings, events, and other resources for compliance. It further states that federal funds, facilities, staff time, training, promotional materials, and other government resources may not be used for activities that promote what the administration characterizes as "gender ideology" or "gender identity."

The memorandum states that all veterans will continue to be served and that programs explicitly authorized by Congress remain unaffected.

Yet as of Friday evening, the VA's own LGBTQ+ Health Program website continued to promote the very infrastructure that the directive targeted.

"There is an LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator (LGBTQ+ VCC) at every facility to help you get the care you need," the website states. It describes coordinators as resources who help create "a safe and respectful environment," educate staff, spread knowledge about LGBTQ+ veteran services, and build networks of allies and community partners.

For a decade, the Department of Veterans Affairs has maintained a nationwide network of LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinators. The program was formally established in 2016 after the VA concluded that LGBTQ+ veterans often faced unique barriers to care, including stigma, discrimination, and elevated risks for certain health conditions.

Under VHA Directive 1340, issued in 2022 and still publicly available on the VA website on Friday evening, the department described the coordinators as playing "a critical role" in ensuring culturally competent, veteran-centered care. Every VA medical facility was required to appoint at least one coordinator, with dedicated administrative time based on facility size.

Related: Trump administration announces end to gender-affirming care for transgender veterans

The directive assigned coordinators responsibilities that extended far beyond patient navigation. They were tasked with advocating for LGBTQ+ veterans, identifying gaps in care, educating staff, building relationships with community organizations, conducting outreach, promoting affirming environments, and monitoring the needs of LGBTQ+ veterans in their regions. The policy specifically encouraged participation in Pride events, maintaining LGBTQ+ resource websites, creating outreach materials, and supporting LGBTQ+-focused programming.
The VA website also describes the mission of the LGBTQ+ Health Program as providing "national leadership through policy, education, advocacy, and innovative data-driven programs to promote LGBTQ+ Veteran health and well-being." Its vision, the department states, is to "build a VA that LGBTQ+ Veterans trust to provide affirming care and services to help them thrive."
In 2022, the VA wrote that LGBTQ+ veterans "expect to experience discrimination in VA medical facilities, which may impair their engagement in care" and that "additional efforts" were necessary to ensure equitable health care.

Friday's directive is the latest in a series of Trump administration actions reshaping VA policy for LGBTQ+ veterans. In March 2025, The Advocate reported that the VA had quietly rescinded VHA Directive 1341, a policy governing care for transgender and intersex veterans. After The Advocate reported the rescission, VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz denied that any policy change had occurred and demanded a retraction. Days later, the department publicly confirmed the policy's removal.

Subsequent reporting by The Advocate documented restrictions on gender-affirming surgery referrals, reports that VA clinicians were quietly helping transgender veterans navigate new barriers to care, and concerns over LGBTQ+ visibility inside VA facilities, including reports that rainbow lanyards and other Pride-related items had been barred at a Virginia VA hospital.

The latest directive appears to extend that effort beyond transgender health care and into the broader infrastructure the VA created to support LGBTQ+ veterans.

Related: Veterans Affairs doctors banned from writing surgery referrals to private providers for trans vets.

What remains unclear is whether the administration intends to preserve the functions of LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinators while removing the LGBTQ+ designation, or whether the redesignation is the first step toward dismantling the program itself.

The Advocate reached out Friday evening to Kasperowicz, who now serves as the VA assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs, to confirm the details of the memorandum and explain how LGBTQ+ veterans will continue to receive specialized support under the new policy. He did not respond to a request for comment.

The memorandum gives Veterans Integrated Service Networks, medical center directors, and program offices 14 days to certify compliance.

06/08/2026

If you are a veteran who creates art or you know one who does, please let them know about Southern Oregon Peace Vets' Veterans Art Show in December at KS Wild. We need to hear from those who are interested by July 1st.

04/06/2026

In addition to asking Congress for a Pentagon budget of upwards of $1.5 trillion plus $200 billion more for his war on Iran, he wants to speed up production of new nuclear weapons.

04/01/2026

Please read our Guest Column published by the Rogue Valley Times, headlined: Vets in Oregon need a strong VA, not the illusion of choice.

The Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., has taken a lot of heat for its recent job cuts. During the past year, VA Secretary Doug Collins has left 30,000 staff positions vacant and limited new hiring at facilities across the country, including in Oregon.

Collins, the Air Force Reserve colonel now running the nation’s largest public health care system, insists that access to medical care will not be affected. According to Collins, the VA is just offering nine million veterans “more healthcare choices.” They can now “get their healthcare when and where it’s most convenient” — via faster referrals to 1.7 million private doctors, hospitals, and clinics.

This costly and unnecessary outsourcing diverts $48 billion a year from the VA’s direct care budget of $134 billion.

If the high-quality, specialized services provided by the VA are further defunded and 33 local facilities dismantled, Oregon’s private health care industry is not prepared to meet veterans’ needs. The state’s 144,000 VA patients will have longer wait times for appointments, longer drives to get care where available, and fragmentation of the wrap-around services for vets who qualify for VA coverage based on their low-income, service-related conditions, or recent service in combat zones.

There are multiple reasons for this. First, the VA’s patient population is very different. Former service members have more mental health problems, chronic illnesses and pain, more back, neck and shoulder injuries and higher rates of hypertension and diabetes than non-veterans.

Those in combat returned at higher risk of traumatic brain injury or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Nearly a million service members have qualified for VA care recently due to past toxic exposures — from burn-pits in the Middle East or military bases in the U.S. with poisoned soil or water.

They join older vets whose health was damaged by Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam or other forms of chemical contamination during the first Gulf War. Veterans also have higher rates of substance abuse and su***de than the general population. The state’s private hospitals, medical practices, and mental health providers are ill equipped to handle an influx of such patients, a third of whom are poor and afflicted with one or more of the conditions above.

Thirty-four of Oregon’s 36 counties have a severe shortage of mental health professionals. Twenty-five do not have enough primary care providers. Oregon has not shuttered any rural hospitals since 2005, but some of these facilities have curtailed services.

And now, more than a dozen face a heightened risk of closing due to Republican cuts in Medicaid reimbursements.

Fortunately, most VA patients, their care-givers, and veterans groups realize that the VA remains one of our best working models of healthcare delivery that puts patients before profits. Stopping the drive to privatize VA care is a cause worth defending.

Fernando Gapasin is an Ashland resident, Vietnam veteran and VA patient, and member of Southern Oregon Peace Veterans. Suzanne Gordon is a California journalist, author of four books about the VA, and co-founder of the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute.

Read more at:

The Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., has taken a lot of heat for its recent job cuts. During the past year, VA Secretary Doug Collins has left 30,000 […]

03/12/2026

Make your voice heard! Read our powerful Guest Opinion in the Rogue Valley Times, where we demand an end to the U.S./Israeli brutal war on Iran. Click here to learn more: https://rv-times.com/2026/03/12/guest-column-southern-oregon-peace-veterans-call-for-end-to-war-on-iran/SOPV's

The joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is deplorable on many levels, and both the President and Congress share responsibility for starting yet another potentially endless war in the Middle East. […]

03/06/2026

They were four soldiers on TV and we loved them. Look at them now. Still alive. Still laughing.

Alan Alda turned 90 on January 28, 2026.
His family planned the safe thing.
Cake. Candles. Grandkids at home.
Alan said no.
"I want to go to the beach."
His daughter stared at him.
"Dad. You're in a wheelchair."
Alan smiled — that same stubborn, unbreakable smile the whole world recognized from forty years of television.
"So?"
He picked up the phone.
First call: Gary Burghoff. 81 years old.
"Drive me to the beach."
"You're insane."
"I'm Hawkeye."
"…Fine."
Second call: Jamie Farr. 91 years old. Also in a wheelchair.
"Two wheelchairs at the beach?" Jamie laughed.
"Like a victory lap," Alan said.
Third call: Mike Farrell. 86. Uses a cane.
A long pause.
Then: "Fine."
Four old men.
One rented van.
Heading west toward Malibu.
On the drive, someone put on the MASH theme.
Nobody spoke.
When it ended, Alan said quietly —
"That song used to bother me."
Pause.
"Now it just reminds me how lucky we were."
At the beach, reality arrived fast.
Wheelchairs don't roll through sand.
Gary disappeared for fifteen minutes.
He came back with two beach wheelchairs and two lifeguards.
One lifeguard leaned in and whispered:
"My grandmother watched MASH every single night."
They made it to the water.
Slow. Shaky. Determined.
Alan closed his eyes.
Waves. Salt. Sun.
"I forgot what this felt like," he said.
They talked about the ones who were gone.
McLean. Wayne. Larry. Harry. Loretta.
The names hung in the ocean air like something sacred.
Then Jamie said: "Let's race."
Two wheelchairs.
Two pushers.
They raced down the sand.
They tied.
A teenager on the beach watched them and asked his mother:
"What are those old guys doing?"
She didn't hesitate.
"Living."
As the sun dropped into the Pacific, Alan spoke.
"This might be the last time we're all together."
Nobody argued.
"That's exactly why it matters," he said.
"Because we know."
That night, his daughter asked if he'd really gone through with it.
He smiled.
"I put my feet in the ocean.
I raced a wheelchair.
I watched the sun go down with the people I love most."
He paused.
"I'm ninety years old."
"And today…"
"I lived."
Some people spend their whole lives waiting for the right moment.
Alan Alda decided the moment was now.
Even at 90.
Even in a wheelchair.
Even knowing it might be the last time.
That's not old age.
That's the whole point.

01/25/2026

Some guy named Allen Hallmark got his letter to the editor on behalf of SOPV published in the Grants Pass Daily Courier today: