The State Department says it will consider providing gender dysphoria and gender transition care for diplomats and their children stationed overseas, alarming some Republicans that taxpayers will be responsible for funding sex-change surgeries, The Free Beacon reported.

The State Department will "assess resources for gender dysphoria and gender-transition care at posts for employees and their dependents" in an effort to "increase support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) employees and family members," according to a recently released Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan.

Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the State Department's first chief diversity and inclusion officer, says in the report that the foreign service "can be a leader in demonstrating how DEIA can be advanced across the federal government."

Republicans in Congress say U.S. taxpayers should not be responsible for funding controversial surgeries and other types of gender dysphoria care for employees abroad, The Free Beacon reported.

"The State Department might not just be paying for their employee's kids to receive these damaging surgeries, they're penalizing foreign service officers who disagree and pressuring countries to perform these procedures on children," Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who helms the Republican Study Committee (RSC), Congress's largest conservative caucus, said to The Free Beacon. "Americans are pro-family, pro-country and pro-God. I hope foreigners understand that Joe Biden's State Department doesn't represent our values."

Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., also expressed concerns about the State Department's mission. "These experimental and irreversible treatments on children shouldn't be tolerated, let alone promoted."

A leaked memo from the State Department indicates that it may begin classifying countries, such as the U.K., Finland, and Sweden, that don't support these types of surgeries as human rights abusers, The Free Beacon reported.

The lawmakers are demanding the State Department provide official copies of this memo and also answer a series of questions about the new policy, including, "Why should Americans support an initiative abroad that is so culturally divisive in America?"

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