Trump's executive orders cause 'chaos' at the VA, some staffers say
Nearly a dozen VA employees working in various capacities across the U.S. — from a boiler plant operator in Nebraska to a cancer researcher in the northwest — spoke with NBC News about how the changes have already affected their jobs.
More than half of them used the same word to describe what they've experienced: chaos.
Mary Brinkmeyer, who until Wednesday was a psychologist and LGBTQ care coordinator at a Veterans Affairs facility in Virginia, said unwelcome changes started to ripple through her hospital just days after Trump issued an executive order stating the U.S. would recognize only two unchangeable sexes and directing federal agencies to stop funding 'gender ideology.'
In addition to mandating that patients and staff use bathrooms and other facilities that align with their birth sex, hospital leadership instructed Brinkmeyer and other mental health employees to remove all of the LGBTQ-affirming materials throughout the sprawling VA facility. This included Pride magnets on office doors and signage providing information about LGBTQ care. Brinkmeyer said she was initially instructed to disband the facility's LGBTQ veteran therapy groups, but that decision was eventually reversed.
Watching hospital leadership dismantle her work, which sought to foster a more inclusive environment, began to negatively affect her health, she said. So on Jan. 29, after three years at the Hampton VA Medical Center, Brinkmeyer put in her two weeks' notice. Her last day was Wednesday, and she spent it finishing as many letters of support as she could for her transgender veteran patients seeking gender-affirming care.
'I'm feeling really sad, because I really loved the LGBTQ veteran care coordinator part of this job and got a lot of joy out of it, and it's really hard to leave with everything being undone,' Brinkmeyer said Wednesday. 'I'm also feeling relieved, because it's been so traumatic to come in every day with this happening.'
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