The Courts Have Spoken!

But the Republicans ignore.

So far most courts have ruled in our favor on healthcare for us but the Republicans legislators just don’t care, they just want to push their bigotry on us.

Transgender health care must be paid for by state insurance, says an appeals court
NPR  All Things Considered
By Selena Simmons-Duffin
April 29, 20245:30

A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that state health insurance plans must provide coverage for gender-affirming care in North Carolina and West Virginia. Trans advocates say it's a huge victory, especially since bills restricting the rights of transgender people have been on the rise in state legislatures.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., issued its decision about two cases. One was brought by North Carolina state employees and their dependents who are transgender and were unable to get coverage for gender-affirming care.

The other lawsuit came from West Virginians who are transgender and on Medicaid. They could get coverage for some treatments — like hormones — but not for surgery.

[…]

In an 8-6 decision, the majority of the 4th circuit decided that these patients were entitled to health insurance coverage for their care. Judge Roger Gregory, writing the majority opinion, called the denial of coverage "obviously discriminatory."

But you know the Republicans see it it differently because it didn’t go their way…

In a statement, North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell called the ruling "unabashed judicial activism."

Any guesses what we the LGBTQ+ community had to say about it?

"We're absolutely thrilled that the court ruled that discriminatory treatment just has no place under the law," says Tara Borelli, senior counsel with Lambda Legal, who argued the case for the plaintiffs.

For the Republicans it is never judicial activism when they win… the overturning of Roe v Wade wasn’t judicial activism but when they found in favor of us in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board all of sudden the exact same Supreme Court were activist.

Meanwhile at the same time the courts were ruling on our healthcare in the North Carolina and West Virginia case…

S.C. Senate votes for dangerous and discriminatory ban on essential care for transgender youth
ACLU South Carolina
May 2, 2024

The South Carolina Senate discarded the testimony of the leading medical experts, transgender South Carolinians, and the families of trans youth today, voting to pass a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth (House Bill 4624).

The bill will return to House to accept the changes made in the Senate, and if approved, it will head to the desk of Governor Henry McMaster. Among other things, this bill would do the following:

•     Ban medically necessary care for transgender youth in South Carolina. This includes the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy, which would become illegal for transgender youth despite peer-reviewed evidence showing their effectiveness in treating the effects of gender dysphoria. (Gender confirmation surgery is not performed on minors in South Carolina.)
•     Make life-saving healthcare more expensive and harder to access for many trans adults in South Carolina by interfering with what state-run insurance plans can cover.
•     Force teachers and possibly other school employees to out transgender youth to their parents, endangering young people with unsupportive families.

Civil rights organizations from across the state responded to the news of the bill’s passage.

“This bill is an extreme political attack on the wellbeing of children and on the right of families to obtain evidence-based care for their children,”  said Jace Woodrum, Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina. “Transgender people belong in South Carolina, and we will never stop fighting.”

They don’t care what the law says they want to make political points for their far right-wing base.

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Then when voters have their say and it goes against the “Republican Line” the Republicans toss out the elected officials or overrule their laws.

Texas attorney general threatens Austin over City Council’s effort to protect health care for transgender people
Austin Monitor
By Amy Smith
May 3, 2024

Shortly after City Council acted Thursday to protect transgender people from discriminatory health care laws, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a threatening statement, vowing to “consider every possible response to ensure compliance” with state law prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors.

Against this backdrop of escalating anti-trans rhetoric within the Republican Party, Council passed a resolution to protect the health, welfare and safety of trans and nonbinary people, as well as those who provide care or assist in facilitating gender-affirming care.

The resolution, which passed on a 10-1 vote, with Council Member Mackenzie Kelly voting no, is significant given recent developments in Texas such as the 2023 law banning gender-affirming health care for youth and Gov. Greg Abbott’s insinuation last month that trans teachers should be prohibited from wearing clothing that aligns with their gender identity.

[...]

The resolution directs that no city personnel or resources be used to investigate, prosecute or impose penalties on people seeking transgender health care, and that Austin police should make investigating such cases their lowest priority.

Oh but the Republicans at the Capitol didn’t like that one bit! The National Review writes,

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton is threatening to hold the city of Austin’s leaders accountable for openly defying the state’s law prohibiting health-care providers from performing irreversible transgender medical procedures on children.

[…]

“If the City of Austin refuses to follow the law and protect children, my office will consider every possible response to ensure compliance,” Paxton, a Republican, said upon the resolution’s passage. “Texas municipalities do not have the authority to pick and choose which state laws they will or will not abide by. The people of Texas have spoken, and Austin City Council must listen.”

Paxton emphasized that he “stands ready to act against any locality that adopts an ordinance or implements a policy or practice that provides, aids, or assists individuals or entities providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgeries to children diagnosed with gender dysphoria or otherwise seeking to medically change their biological sex.”

Well Attorney General… the people have also spoken in Austin and more importantly the courts have spoken But we all know that as far as the Republicans are concerned the courts mean noting, because the Republicans are only only interested in power and creating an autocracy and they don’t care who they trample.