June 22, 2020 – Today, The TransLatin@ Coalition with support from Lambda Legal and Steptoe & Johnson LLP filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about the health care discrimination rule that purports to carve out LGBTQ people and other vulnerable populations from the protections of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, among other bases. The lawsuit includes other plaintiffs like Whitman-Walker Health, the TransLatin@ Coalition and its members, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality, AGLP: The Association of LGBTQ Psychiatrists, and four individual doctors.
We are joining this lawsuit because The TransLatin@ Coalition, as an organization, believes that everyone deserves easy access to health care and health care that is respectful of who we are. The Trump administration’s decision to change the language that was put in place to protect LGBTQI+ health care rights is an outright attack on our community’s safety and wellness. The reality is that one in four transgender people do not see a health care provider when they need it, in order to avoid mistreatment. Though many large healthcare providers have implemented regulations to ensure this doesn’t happen, the fear of being dead named, misgendered, and not prioritized because of gender expression are realities our communities face to this day. No one should be forced to choose between getting the care they need and staying safe.
Our siblings are already being attacked and murdered in the streets simply because of who we are. It is not simply enough to hope that we get treated the way we deserve in healthcare. We simply cannot allow laws and rules to pass that will disproportionately impact our Trans, Gender Non-conforming, Intersex (TGI) communities without fighting for what we know is right. It is important to make rules with clear language that not only include but advocate for TGI people to be treated with dignity and respect. Everyone deserves easy access to care that is respectful of who we are, that is compassionate and competent. Our lives depend on it and we’re going to fight for it!
Read the Complaint here: https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/whitman-walker-clinic-v-hhs