A veteran apparently took their own life Jan. 27 at the parking garage at the VA Medical Center in Syracuse, New York, draped in a banner associated with transgender rights.

A witness said the veteran died by suicide wearing a body-length pink, light blue and white flag — a symbol of transgender pride. According to Syracuse.com, which first reported the death, the veteran was a patient who had been discharged from the hospital’s inpatient facility on Jan. 21.

Anne Bellows, a professor of food studies at Syracuse University, saw the veteran’s body from a building across from the parking garage. She said she didn’t see the person’s face but was struck by how the flag floated “gently around the body.”

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“This situation needs attention,” Bellows wrote in an email to Military.com.

In a statement, the VA Syracuse Medical Center said it could not discuss specifics of the case, citing an ongoing investigation and Privacy Act restrictions.

“VA Syracuse Healthcare System is in contact with the veteran’s family and is committed to keeping them informed and supported,” hospital officials said.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order shortly after taking office designed to eliminate federal policies that support transgender people, including barring them from listing themselves as members of their chosen gender on forms or using facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms opposite their sex at birth.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has not publicly announced formal guidance on implementing the executive order, but according to a source familiar with the situation, gender identities are being removed from VA records.

According to the VA’s 2024 annual suicide prevention report, 6,407 veterans died by suicide in 2022 — the last year figures were available — compared with 6,404 in 2021, a rate of roughly 34.7 per 100,000.

The department has invested billions in mental health care and suicide prevention and treatment in the past several years, from more than $13 billion in fiscal 2022 to a request of nearly $17.1 billion in fiscal 2025, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Yet suicides have remained stubbornly high. Between 2008 and 2017, more than 6,000 veterans died by suicide each year.

And between 2017 and 2018, 19 veterans died by suicide at VA medical facilities, many of them in parking lots.

Trump’s executive order mandates that federal agencies “remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology.”

Agencies have 120 days to submit their plans for implementing the order.

Last week, then-acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter emailed staff saying that during the 120-day period, VA employees should not take any action to implement the executive order “until specifically directed through subsequent guidance,” according to a copy of the email obtained by Military.com.

Lindsay Church, a Navy veteran who is the executive director of Minority Veterans of America and identifies as nonbinary, said altering medical records and other limitations to transgender rights will have ripple effects.

“It’s going to impact whether or not people ever come back to VA,” Church said.

Veterans and service members experiencing a mental health emergency can call the Veteran Crisis Line, 988 and press 1. Help also is available by text, 838255, and via chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net.

— Rebecca Kheel contributed to this report.

Related: How Trump’s Moves to End Protections for Transgender People Could Hurt Veterans Health Care

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