(OPINION) A federal judge has found that a Georgia sheriff’s office was illegally discriminating when it denied gender reassignment surgery to a deputy. U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell ruled on June 2 that Houston County cannot exclude surgery for the transgender woman from its health insurance plan, citing a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision finding that a Michigan funeral home couldn’t fire an employee for being transgender.
The case involves Sgt. Anna Lange, an investigator in the middle Georgia county who began her transition in 2017 after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria. “I can confidently move forward with my life knowing that gender-affirming care is protected under federal law,” Lange said in a statement released by the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, which represented her.
“This decision is not only a personal victory, but a tremendous step forward for all transgender Southerners who are seeking insurance coverage for medically necessary care.” David Brown, legal director for the fund, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the ruling is believed to be the first of its kind in the South. Neither Talton nor the county’s lawyers responded to requests for comment.
She told Sheriff Cullen Talton the previous year that she identified as a woman, planned to dress as a woman on the job, and wanted to go undergo surgery, but Houston County’s health care coverage prohibited coverage for sex reassignment.
Judge Marc Treadwell’s ruling says that violates Lange’s right to equal protection under the Constitution. For example, the county agreed they’d pay for a mastectomy for a breast-cancer patient, but not for sex reassignment.
The judge says it discriminates against trans individuals, but his ruling does not say what the county should do for Lange. According to court records, her surgery would cost around $25,000. We’ll have more on the case and what it means on 13WMAZ News at 5 and 6.
