Overview
- The Defense Health Agency data obtained by the New York Post show 108,332 erectile dysfunction prescriptions were dispensed to active‑duty personnel in 2025 and 639,355 to the wider military community that year.
- The 2025 total is a slight rise from the prior record of 108,323 in 2024 and a 16.5 percent increase from 92,996 in 2021.
- In February 2026, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a rule banning gender‑affirming medical care in military clinics and restricting enlistment for people with a history of gender dysphoria.
- LGBTQ+ advocates say the prescription totals expose an inconsistency because erectile‑dysfunction drugs are widely covered while gender‑affirming treatments are barred, and they have publicly framed that as unequal treatment.
- Legal challenges to the care and enlistment bans are active, including Doe v. Department of Defense in Maryland and separate suits in Talbott v. United States and Shilling v. United States, which could change how the policies are applied.