Memorial Union and quadrangle at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – Photo: Vonbloompasha, via Wikimedia.
A Wisconsin jury has awarded $780,000 in damages to two transgender state employees who were denied medical coverage for gender confirmation surgery under the state health insurance plan.
Alina Boyden, a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Shannon Andrews, a cancer researcher at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, filed a lawsuit against the state and its insurers in early 2017 after they were denied coverage for transition-related expenses.
The denial was based on a benefits exclusion adopted by the Wisconsin Group Insurance Board that prohibits coverage for procedures related to “surgery and sex hormones associated with gender reassignment.”
Andrews was forced to pay $21,000 in out-of-pocket expenses when she went forward with the surgery, while Boyden was forced to forego the surgery altogether, even though both women had been advised to receive surgery to treat their gender dysphoria.
Both women claimed that the denial of coverage violated their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as under federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on sex.
In September, a federal judge ordered the state and its employers to cover Boyden and Andrews’ transition procedures, or compensate them for out-of-pocket expenses.
The judge, William Conley, found that the exclusion in the state employee health care plan violated the Fourteenth Amendment, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and provisions within the Affordable Care Act that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
“[The] Exclusion on its face treats transgender individuals differently on the basis of sex, thus triggering the protections of Title VII and the ACA’s anti-discrimination provision,” Conley wrote in his 47-page opinion.
A jury of eight people subsequently decided to reimburse Andrews $479,000 and awarded Boyden $301,000, reports Courthouse News.
“It was wonderful to see a process where eight ordinary Wisconsinites were able to listen to our story, see that we were harmed and make the decision that they did,” Boyden said in a statement. “No one should have to tell their story to a room full of strangers to justify their medical expenses, but I am thankful I had the opportunity to share my story. I hope this sends a powerful message to fellow transgender people in Wisconsin that our health matters.”
While courts have increasingly found in favor of transgender individuals who have been denied insurance coverage for transition-related expenses, this case marks one of the first times a jury has awarded damages to victims who were discriminated against because of such exclusions.
“Depriving transgender people of access to transition-related care is discrimination and we are pleased the jury awarded Shannon and Alina the money they need to cover their care and for the harm they suffered,” Larry Dupuis, the legal director for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said in a statement.
In the meantime, the state’s Group Insurance Board voted to change its policy regarding coverage for transition-related expenses, meaning that beginning on Jan. 1, 2019, state employees will be able to have their insurance plan cover any surgery or hormones needed to treat a person’s gender dysphoria.
James Esseks, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT & HIV Project, which represented the women, reflected on the significance of the jury’s decision.
“For me, it’s beyond heartening that a jury could meet two transgender women for the first time in a courtroom, understand their stories about the denial of surgery and hormone care, relate to them as fellow human beings, and award them damages like this,” Esseks said. “It’s another sign of how the country is learning more and more about transgender people, which is due to the courage of individual transgender and nonbinary people like Shannon and Alina.”
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously revived a 2020 lawsuit by Marlean Ames, who claims she was discriminated against for being heterosexual by the Ohio Department of Youth Services.
The 61-year-old had worked for the department since 2004. A decade later, she was promoted to administrator of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. But she claimed that the conflict started after she began reporting to a lesbian woman, according to The Hill.
In 2019, Ames interviewed for another position within the department but was not hired. Her supervisor suggested she retire, and days later, Ames was demoted, with a significant pay cut. A 25-year-old gay man was subsequently promoted to her old position. Months later, a lesbian woman was chosen for the position for which she had applied.
A New York City man will spend the next two decades in prison for selling fentanyl-laced heroin that caused the fatal overdose of prominent transgender activist Cecilia Gentili, found dead in her home on February 6, 2024.
The 52-year-old was killed from a mixture of fentanyl, heroin, xylazine (also known as "tranq," a veterinary sedative that is often mixed with other drugs related to overdoses), and cocaine, according to the New York City Medical Examiner's Office.
Police used text messages, along with cell site data, to link two men to Gentili's death, with 53-year-old Antonio Venti of Babylon, N.Y., selling the fentanyl-laced mixture to the veteran LGBTQ activist and 44-year-old Michael Kuilan supplying the drugs to Venti.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a Tennessee law banning doctors from prescribing gender-affirming puberty blockers and hormones to transgender youth with gender dysphoria.
A group of families of transgender youth and a doctor who treats them sued to overturn the law, arguing it was unconstitutional, infringed on parental rights, and violated nondiscrimination protections in the Affordable Care Act. Lower courts ultimately dismissed the parental rights and ACA-based claims.
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