Media Center

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a rule change that attempts to roll back anti-discrimination protections in health care, including for LGBTQ people under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. The rule does not and cannot change the law, but does cause confusion and invites health care workers, doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies that receive federal funding to refuse to provide or cover health care services critical to the health and wellbeing of LGBT people and everyone living with HIV, even during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

(Denver, CO, June 10, 2020) – Niamh Anderson took all the necessary steps in preparation for their gender confirming procedure last July, including securing prior insurance authorization for a surgery doctors had said was medically necessary to treat their gender dysphoria. So Anderson, a paramedic then-employed with of the Town of Limon, was stunned to learn that the town’s health insurance plan administrator denied several claims for the procedure because of a blanket exclusion that effectively precludes any gender affirming healthcare.

A federal court in Maryland heard arguments today in a case brought by Lambda Legal and Immigration Equality and pro bono counsel Morgan Lewis on behalf of a married gay couple and their daughter Kessem Kiviti, whom the Trump Administration continues to refuse to recognize as a U.S. citizen since birth, even though both of her parents are U.S. citizens.

The federal district court in Idaho today warned Idaho state officials that its permanent injunction issued in 2018 continues to apply and bars them from categorically preventing transgender people born in Idaho from correcting the gender markers on their birth certificates to match their gender identity.