We are going to be hearing that more and more as lawsuits are filed.
In an email I got from Lambda Legal…
In just the past few weeks, we have challenged state laws prohibiting or criminalizing the provision of gender-affirming medical care for trans adolescents in Montana (van Garderen v. Montana), Oklahoma (Poe v. Drummond), and Tennessee (L.W. v. Skrmetti). And in Southampton Community Healthcare v. Bailey, we challenged and blocked a dangerous so-called “emergency rule” by the Missouri Attorney General that restricted gender-affirming care for all transgender Missourians.
In an email from the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
Our fight for transgender health care continues! Yesterday, we filed a lawsuit against the State of Tennessee for denying transition-related health care to members of Tennessee’s health care plan, which covers more than 290,000 state employees, teachers, and other public employees.
All over the country there are lawsuits, in Tennessee,
Tennessee LookoutBy: Anita WadhwaniMay 26, 2023Two transgender women have filed suit against the state after being denied gender affirming care under Tennessee’s public employee health benefits program.Gerda Zinner, an academic advisor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Story VanNess, a former Knox County special education teacher, each say they were unlawfully discriminated against by being denied coverage of gender-affirming surgeries their medical teams deemed necessary, the lawsuit said.Under the terms of the state health benefits plan, “surgery or treatment for, or related to, sex transformations” is excluded from coverage. The plan insures 290,000 state employees, dependents and retirees.[…]Filed Wednesday in the Middle District of Tennessee, the lawsuit is at least the second legal action taken against the state over transgender care in recent weeks.In April, three Tennessee families filed a legal challenge to a newly enacted law — not yet in effect — that bans all forms of gender-affirming care for transgender youth under the age of 18. Each family has a transgender teen currently receiving gender affirming care. The U.S. Department of Justice has since joined the lawsuit, which is seeking an immediate injunction preventing the law from taking effect July 1.
Then in Florida GLAD is,
A new rule banning well-established, effective medical treatments for transgender youth with gender dysphoria takes effect in Florida today. As healthcare providers and researchers express alarm about the ban’s disregard for science and medicine, a group of Florida parents committed to protecting the health and wellbeing of their children, and who are deeply concerned about the ban’s impact, are preparing to challenge the rule in federal court.[…]The parent plaintiffs and their children are represented by Southern Legal Counsel, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Human Rights Campaign. They are preparing to file a lawsuit challenging the ban in federal court.“The Florida Boards of Medicine chose to ignore the evidence and science in front of them and instead put families in the unthinkable position of not being able to provide essential healthcare for their kids,” said Jennifer Levi, Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders.
Over in Kentucky,
By Special to The Harlan EnterpriseMay 24, 2023The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and other plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to block part of a law they have said is the worst anti-trans bill in the United States.The ACLU of Kentucky filed for a preliminary injunction Monday to block a section of Senate Bill 150, due to be implemented in late June and banning gender-affirming medical care for minors, until its legal challenge is decided. The lawsuit was filed earlier this month.SB 150, which the GOP-dominated legislature passed over the veto of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, also enacts restrictions on which bathrooms minors can use, limits the scope of sex education students receive and allows school staff to misgender trans minors. No challenges have been filed to those provisions.Corey Shapiro, the legal director for ACLU of Kentucky, in a statement, said the families the organization represents in the lawsuit “should be able to begin or continue essential medical care.”
Then in Utah,
Plaintiffs argue City of St. George unlawfully discriminated against them in violation of their rights under the U.S. & Utah constitutionsBy LA Blade Digital StaffMay 23, 2023Today, the Southern Utah Drag Stars (Drag Stars) filed a lawsuit against the city of St. George, Utah, which denied the organization a special events permit for a family-friendly drag show.The city’s refusal to grant a permit is part of a years-long effort to target drag performances and LGBTQ+ pride events in violation of the First and 14th Amendments, as well as the Utah Constitution. Legal counsel intends to seek a preliminary injunction to allow Drag Stars to host its family-friendly drag show in June.On March 3, Mitski Avalōx applied for a City of St. George special events permit to host a family-friendly drag event, Allies & Community Drag Show Festival, at J.C. Snow Park. A few weeks later, the city denied her application, alleging that she violated its advertising ordinance, an obscure local rule which prohibits advertising for special events until the city grants a permit.[…]To make matters worse, while Avalōx’s application was pending, St. George decided to suspend considering any new special event permits for six months, denying Drag Stars the opportunity to submit a new permit application after the initial rejection.
And not leaving out Texas which started all this madness,
KOMO NewsBy KEYE StaffMay 19th 2023Several progressive groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, pledged to file a lawsuit against Senate Bill 14, a ban on gender-related treatment for Texas minors.The announcement comes after the bill was approved by the Senate on Wednesday. It now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.The bill is a legislative priority for Republicans and would prevent transgender minors from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapies.[…]Lambda Legal, the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Transgender Law Center issued a joint statement regarding the lawsuit:We will be filing a lawsuit to protect transgender youth in Texas from being stripped of access to healthcare that keeps them healthy and alive. Coming on top of the effort last year to classify providing medically necessary and scientifically proven care to transgender youth as child abuse which threatened to tear Texas families with transgender children apart, an effort that is currently blocked in state court, Texas lawmakers have seen fit to double down, creating untold harm on Texas families.
All these lawsuits cost money to file and defend. I donate each year to GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders) in Massachusetts, I have worked with Jennifer Levi since 2006 to help pass the laws here in Connecticut. And she was there the night that Connecticut passed the non-discrimination law.
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| Outside of the Senate Chamber the night that the non-discrimination bill was passed in 2011 Jennifer Levi is the fourth from the left. L to R: Sen. Beth Bye, me, Sally ctEquality, Jennifer, Betty Gallo our lobbyist, and Gretchen Planned Parenthood |
Please donate to one of those legal firms who are defending us! These are excellent attorneys, if they were in private practice they would be flying around in corporate jets but instead they chose work for our human rights, please support them!
YES! If the right wing fascists can use the legal system to try to stop us then we can use it to stop them. Just hope the lawsuit lands in the lap of a sympathetic judge. If not well then. I just wish that people it this process and in these time would remember this meme that I have posted so many times and have a banner made up for the next demo. It says When the State Debates Your Right To Exist, Debate Its Own. Harry Hay warned us of this day and said, All long as you have the majority but when you lose that watch out. (now how to go about doing or not doing that is up for debate.)
ReplyDeleteI donate to Lamba, and the Transgender Law Center. What a time we are living in but we have done it before and we can do it again. As long as we all do something and remember that to fight back is the only way we are going to win. Not by hugging sweat shop rainbow flags and trinkets and thinking it all a dance. These are life or death times we live in. The one glimmer of hope is the fascist right with all of their boycotts will soon have nowhere to go. Good! Be well and safe Diana and readers of this site.