On June 29th, Illinois became the latest state to prohibit health insurers from discriminating against transgender people in health plans. Currently, eight other states and the District of Columbia prohibit discrimination.

 

Transgender Law Center applauds all of the advocates and government staff who helped make this achievement possible.

 

 

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Transgender Law Center commends a resolution issued today that will remove healthcare exclusions affecting transgender employees of the state of Maryland and establish a clear process for them to access the health care they need. The case was brought by FreeState Legal, representing Sailor Holobaugh, a transgender University of Maryland employee who was denied coverage for a medically necessary procedure. FreeState and Holobaugh argued that transgender healthcare exclusions violate the provisions of the Fairness for All Marylanders Act passed earlier this year, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression.

 

In response to the complaint, it was decided that Holobaugh would receive compensation for his particular medical expenses, and the Maryland Department of Budget and Management would establish a new "Gender Dysphoria Benefit" for Maryland state employees' healthcare plans. This will make it possible for all employees of the state to receive coverage for medically necessary care, including hormone and surgical treatment.

 

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Every weekday morning, buses carrying dozens of people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pull up to the immigration court building in downtown San Francisco. One by one, the passengers emerge from the bus wearing jumpsuits and metal handcuffs, belly chains, and leg irons, stumbling from the restraints. Immigration detention is supposed to be "civil" as opposed to incarceration as a punishment for a crime, but the conditions on those buses are anything but civil. Journeys of up to five hours take place with no drinking water and no restroom. When they finally arrive in San Francisco, the food and water they are offered is often inedible - so many do not eat or drink water before giving life-altering testimony.

 

Sleep-deprived, sore, hungry, dehydrated, and demoralized, immigrants must appear in court to plead their case before an immigration judge, often without a lawyer to represent them. Transgender immigrants and other survivors of past violence recount their traumatic experiences in detail on the stand. They face deportation to countries where their lives are in danger if their testimony is deemed not credible due to their demeanor or inability to remember exact details consistently. But how can they deliver convincing testimony when physically and emotionally drained? Clearly, the way ICE transports immigrants to court gravely impacts the fairness of their hearings and re-traumatizes survivors of violence.

 

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The provision in the current version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that allows religious organizations to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity has long been a source of significant concern. Given the types of workplace discrimination we see increasingly against LGBT people, together with the calls for greater permission to discriminate on religious grounds that followed immediately upon the Supreme Court's decision last week in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, it has become clear that the inclusion of this provision is no longer tenable. It would prevent ENDA from providing protections that LGBT people desperately need and would make very bad law with potential further negative effects. Therefore, we are announcing our withdrawal of support for the current version of ENDA.

Transgender Law Center recently signed on to a letter that called on the President and the Department of Justice to increase transparency and establish clear guidelines prohibiting profiling on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity across all law enforcement and government agencies.

Now, Al Jazeera has released a new video documenting the activities of FBI informants.  These operatives are tasked with attempting to identify potential terrorists on US soil.  But as this investigation shows, this often takes the form of the agents entering Muslim, Arab, Latino, and African American communities, identifying vulnerable or alienated young people, and attempting to recruit them into terrorist plots that do not exist.  We consider these tactics to be morally questionable and grounded in racist and xenophobic prejudices; they constitute a form of entrapment and undermine the credibility of the FBI and the American government in general.

  

Southerners On New Ground, Transgender Law Center and many others are joining forces on August 2nd in Washington, DC, to amplify the national call to demand that President Obama grant the broadest administrative relief possible and implement an immediate halt to deportations!

  

After facing years of abuse from the Washington DC police department, Patti Shaw fought back and won. Although Patty had changed all of her identity documents, the Police compromised her safety and well being by refusing to house her with women. As a result of a settlement with advocate Patti Shaw, the Washington, DC Metro Police Department (MPD) has agreed to change its classification policy so that transgender detainees will be classified based on the gender listed on their ID (if they so wish).

Patti also won a cash settlement, part of which she plans to use to set up transitional housing for trans folks in DC, in collaboration with Casa de Ruby.

 

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