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Health care is new front for transgender rights under Trump

By RICARDO ALONSO- rule while in the Obama
ZALDIVAR administration and says it
Associated Press reflected established legal
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mili- precedent that transgen-
tary service. Bathroom use. der people are protected
Job bias. And now, health under federal sex discrimi-
care. nation laws. “The case law
The Trump administration is on whether sex discrimina-
coming under fire for rewrit- tion includes gender identi-
ing a federal rule that bars ty has been pretty clear for
discrimination in health quite a while,” said Samu-
care based on “gender els.
identity.” Critics say it’s an- The original rule did not
other attempt to undercut override either the medi-
acceptance for transgen- cal judgment or religious
der people. beliefs of providers, said
The Health and Human Samuels, arguing those are
Services Department rule protected by other laws.
dates to the Obama ad- The timetable for the Trump
ministration, a time when administration’s proposed
LGBT people gained politi- changes is uncertain, but
cal and social recognition. the rewrite isn’t likely to
But a federal judge in Texas settle the debate. The
said the rule went too far by transgender controversy
concluding that discrimina- could follow the path of
tion on the basis of gender other Trump initiatives to
identity is a form of sex dis- the Supreme Court. ACLU
crimination, which is forbid- Associated Press attorney Joshua Block said
den by civil rights laws. zalez-Pagan, a lawyer with Behind the latest health not use the term “gender five federal appeals courts
Instead of appealing the Lambda Legal, a civil rights care dispute is a medi- identity.” have ruled that discrimina-
judge’s injunction, the organization. cally recognized condition In the Texas case, a Catho- tion based on gender iden-
Trump administration has He ran through a checklist: called “gender dysphoria” lic hospital system, several tity violates federal laws
opted to rewrite the rule, President Donald Trump’s — discomfort or distress states and a Christian med- against sex discrimination.
which applies to health call to bar military service caused by a discrepancy ical association argued In Congress, a GOP advo-
care providers and insurers by transgender people; between the gender that that the rule went beyond cate for transgender rights
receiving federal funds. Attorney General Jeff Ses- a person identifies as and the law as written and is urging the administration
Roger Severino, head of sions’ memo concluding the gender at birth. Con- would coerce providers to to re-evaluate. Rep Ileana
the department’s Office for that civil rights laws don’t sequences can include se- act against their medical Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., came
Civil Rights, said the rewrite protect transgender peo- vere depression. Treatment judgment and religious be- to the U.S. from Cuba as a
will address the “reason- ple from discrimination on can range from sex-reas- liefs. child.
ableness, necessity and ef- the job; the override of signment surgery and hor- The American Academy “I fled from a communist re-
ficacy” of the Obama-era Obama-era guidance that mones to people changing of Pediatrics says that for gime to come to this land of
requirement. He refused to allowed transgender stu- their outward appearance children who have yet to opportunity and freedom,
discuss specifics, as the re- dents to use school bath- by adopting a different reach puberty, gender where if you work hard and
vision is under White House rooms that matched their hairstyle or clothing. transition does not involve are a responsible member
review before its official re- gender identities. Under the Obama-era rule, any medical interventions of society, you have the
lease. Social and religious conser- a hospital could be re- but instead focuses on so- ability to get ahead,” said
Groups representing trans- vatives are one of the ad- quired to perform gender- cial changes such as cloth- Ros-Lehtinen. “That prin-
gender people expect the ministration’s most stead- transition procedures such ing and calling the child by ciple should apply to any-
Obama protections to be fast constituencies, and as hysterectomies if the fa- another name. one, including transgender
gutted and are preparing the White House has been cility provided that kind of The Becket Fund respond- Americans. I urge the ad-
to take the administration out front championing their treatment for other medi- ed that the Obama admin- ministration to guide its poli-
to court. causes, including restric- cal conditions. The rule istration did not limit the ap- cies under the premise of
“The proposed rollback tions on abortion and legal was meant to carry out the plication of its nondiscrimi- freedom, opportunity and
does fit into a pattern of protections for health care anti-discrimination section nation rule to adults. equality.”
transphobia and anti-LGBT providers with moral and of the Affordable Care Act, UCLA legal scholar Jocelyn One of Ros-Lehtinen’s
sentiment in this adminis- religious qualms about par- which bars sex discrimina- Samuels oversaw drafting children is a transgender
tration,” said Omar Gon- ticular procedures. tion in health care but does of the anti-discrimination man.q