Transgender state employees can sue NC for discrimination in health care, judges sayWe can thank the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) for the win and last year’s Supreme Court ruling on Title VII.
News & Observer
By Danielle Battaglia
September 1, 2021
Transgender state employees can sue North Carolina for banning the use of state health insurance to pay for transition care, treatment and surgery, a federal appeals court said Wednesday in upholding a lower court’s ruling.
Six state employees filed the lawsuit in 2019 accusing the North Carolina State Health Plan of discrimination against them or their children.
Attorneys for the state argued that it had protection from being sued under the legal doctrine known as sovereign immunity, but judges ruled that that immunity was waived when North Carolina used federal funds on the state’s health plan but did not uphold the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.
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The judges recognized that this was a departure from past policies and that the Affordable Care Act — President Barack Obama’s health care law — prohibits “any health program or activity” that receives federal funds from discriminating against individuals on any grounds prohibited by various federal laws, including Title IX dealing with gender discrimination.
Speaking of North Carolina…
Charlotte protected LGBTQ+ people. There’s much more work to do.As the south lures away northerners one of the side effects is the south is becoming more liberal where those job are created.
Charlotte Observer
By Tyrell Lowery
August 23, 2021
As a Charlotte resident and a transgender man, I am thrilled to see Charlotte City Council vote Aug. 9 to pass a strong nondiscrimination ordinance protecting people in our city from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and natural hairstyle.
By becoming the tenth community in our state to pass an ordinance like this, the Queen City is showing unequivocally that North Carolina is ready to protect LGBTQ people.
The vote reflects how far our city, state and nation have journeyed on support for the LGBTQ community, and especially transgender people, in the past five years. In 2016, Charlotte tried doing the right thing by passing an inclusive ordinance, only to see it blocked by the N.C. General Assembly’s cruel bathroom bill (HB2), which specifically targeted transgender people by villifying us and restricting our access to public restrooms. HB2 set off a nasty chapter for North Carolina, making our state ground zero for anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
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It’s time: We must look to Charlotte as a blueprint for the rest of our state and country. We must pass these protections for every LGBTQ person, no matter where they live. Our people can no longer wait.
TyRell Lowery is the Transgender Community Liason for Charlotte Black Pride.
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