This Has Been Settled Before

But the conservatives didn’t like the answer, so they keep doing it over and over and hoping for different results.

Denying gender-affirming care coverage violates federal law, says appeals court
The 11th Circuit made the ruling in the case of Houston County, Ga., sheriff's deputy Anna Lange.
The Advocate
By Trudy Ring
May 14 2024

A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that the Houston County, Ga., Sheriff’s Office violated antidiscrimination law by denying transition-related health care to a deputy.

Anna Lange sued in 2019 because she had been repeatedly denied insurance coverage for gender-affirming care under the county’s employee health plan. A U.S. district court in Georgia ruled in 2022 that the denial violated federal civil rights law, and Monday a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11 Circuit affirmed that ruling.

It is only the second decision by a federal appellate court affirming that it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against transgender people in an employee health plan, the first being a recent decision on North Carolina's plan for state employees. It is immediately binding on employers in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, the states covered by the 11th Circuit, notes a press release from the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is representing Lange along with a private law firm.

In his ruling for the 2-1 majority, Judge Charles Wilson cited the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the high court ruled that job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity constitutes sex discrimination, banned by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

We could have told you that, you didn’t need to spend over a million dollars to find out.
A county spent $1.2 million in legal fees to deny a trans employee health care. They just lost.

"It has been deeply painful to have the county fight tooth and nail, redirecting valuable resources toward denying me basic health care."
LGBTQ Nation
By Mira Lazine
May 14, 2024

A federal appeals court sided with a transgender deputy who was denied equal medical care when the Houston County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office refused to cover her gender-affirming care under their health insurance. This comes after the county spent $1.2 dollars in legal fees to avoid paying for the deputy’s $10,000 surgery.

Represented by the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), Sgt. Anna Lange began her lawsuit back in 2019 after her employer denied her gender-affirming care, despite having worked for the Sheriff’s Office since 2006.

“Today’s victory is a win not just for me, but for all transgender Southerners who deserve equal access to life-saving transition-related care,” said Lange in a TLDEF press release.

[…]

In 2022, a federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia ruled that Lange had been discriminated against, citing the Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County as legal precedent.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit just ruled 2-1 in her favor. The judges also cited Bostock v. Clayton County in defending Lange.

Here we have judges who rule based on precedent not because of their religious beliefs, but now…

Landmark transgender rights ruling voided by Atlanta-based federal appeals court
Judges will reconsider Houston County sheriff’s deputy’s case
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Rosie Manins
August 17, 2024

A landmark ruling in a transgender rights case brought by a Houston County sheriff’s deputy has been set aside by the conservative Atlanta-based federal appeals court, which will reconsider whether employers can be liable under the Civil Rights Act for denying coverage for employees’ gender-affirming care.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit decided in May that Houston County and its sheriff violated federal law by refusing to provide health care coverage for Sgt. Anna Lange’s gender transition surgery. The 2-1 ruling, in which a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump dissented, was binding across Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

So now the total will go up again as they still battle the decision to provide healthcare to us.