Trans deputy’s gender-confirmation surgery must be covered by county plan, GA judge says

Charlotte Observer (NC)

A Georgia federal district court judge has ruled in favor of a transgender sheriff’s deputy who sued the county after she was told that her health insurance plan would not cover gender-confirmation surgery.

In a June 2 ruling, Judge Marc Treadwell found that Houston County, Georgia, had violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by denying Houston County Sheriff’s Deputy Anna Lange coverage for gender-affirming care under her county health plan, according to a lawsuit filed on Lange’s behalf in 2019.

Lange, who was assigned male at birth, began her gender transition in 2017, according to the lawsuit.

She has worked for the Houston County Sheriff’s Department for the past 16 years, according to the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, which represented Lange in the lawsuit. In 2018, she requested permission from Sheriff Cullen Talton to wear the women’s uniform and to present as a woman at work.

The sheriff ultimately granted Lange’s request, despite saying he didn’t “believe in sex changes” and he told her that she would need a “tough skin” to deal with her coworkers.

The Houston County Sheriff’s Office declined a request for comment from McClatchy News.

Lange’s doctors later concluded she would need gender-confirmation surgery in order to treat her gender dysphoria, according to court documents. Gender dysphoria is a condition of distress experienced by people whose gender identity conflicts with the gender they were assigned at birth, according to the Mayo Clinic.

On Nov. 30, 2018, the county’s personnel director denied Lange’s request for pre-authorization for the surgery. Lange appealed the decision but was denied again in 2019, court documents show.

In the judge’s decision, Treadwell wrote that by excluding coverage for gender-affirming care in its health insurance policy, Houston County was unconstitutionally discriminating against transgender people, who are protected under Title VII — a section of the Civil Rights Act.

“Sex discrimination under Title VII includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and discrimination based on gender stereotyping because ‘it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex,’” Treadwell wrote.

Lange said in a statement published by the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund that she was relieved by the judge’s decision.

“I can confidently move forward with my life knowing that gender affirming care is protected under federal law,” her statement says. “This decision is not only a personal victory, but a tremendous step forward for all transgender Southerners who are seeking insurance coverage for medically necessary care.”

One in four people who responded to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey reported experiencing a problem with their insurance related to being transgender, including being denied coverage for care for a gender transition. More than half of those who sought coverage for a gender-affirming surgery were denied. (2015 was the latest year the survey was conducted.)

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund legal director David Brown said in a statement that the Georgia ruling will have an impact on the lives of transgender people throughout the southern U.S.

“The Court’s decision makes clear that depriving transgender people of healthcare is not only immoral but also illegal,” the statement says. “An employer cannot refuse health coverage to a transgender employee who needs access to medically necessary, life-saving care.”

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