Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund is committed to ending discrimination based upon gender identity and expression and to achieving equality for transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal services, and public policy efforts.
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit heard oral argument in an appeal brought by Houston County, Georgia seeking to reverse a district court decision that the Sheriff’s Office violated federal law when it denied transgender-related health care to Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) client, Anna Lange.
“Houston County’s choice to waste time and resources on this appeal with the hope of continuing a blatantly unequal policy is shameful,” said plaintiff Anna Lange. “Their persistence is a slap in the face to my decades of public service, however I’m not just standing up for me, but for all transgender Southerners who deserve equal access to life-saving transition-related care.”
Today, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), along with co-counsel Bondurant Mixson & Ellmore LLP, announced a settlement in their lawsuit against the State of Georgia for denying coverage of transgender-related health care in the Georgia State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP), which covers more than half a million Georgians, including employees of state agencies and public school districts, and their family members. The changes are particularly timely, as open enrollment is currently underway for SHBP participants, who will need to assess whether plans will provide them with the health care coverage they need.
“I am thrilled to know that none of my trans colleagues will ever have to go through what I did,” said Micha Rich (he/they), employee of a Georgia government agency and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “I hope this is a new day for my beloved state of Georgia in its treatment of trans and nonbinary people.”
Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) announced that it has resolved a complaint on behalf of career federal employee Kelly Shaw, a transgender woman who was denied necessary facial surgery prescribed by her medical provider.
Makyyla Holland (she/her/hers), a 25-year-old Black transgender woman, reached a landmark settlement with Broome County following violence, denial of medical care, and discrimination inflicted on her at the Broome County Jail because she is transgender.
A Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas judge for Butler County granted a name change to transgender man, Jordan Hilliard, in a case brought by Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) and Reed Smith challenging the constitutionality of the state’s ban on legal name changes for people with felony convictions.
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) and Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) filed claims with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on behalf of two transgender individuals with disabilities, August Rocha and Christine Muller, alleging discrimination based on disability and transgender status.
In partnership with TLDEF, eight transgender women athletes filed a friend of the court brief with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in A.M. v. Indiana challenging Indiana’s transgender sports ban, House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1041.
Updated on Nov 14, 2023
