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.
Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) filed a lawsuit on behalf of a number of plaintiffs and is suing the Trump administration in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. This rule undermines the Affordable Care Act's non-discrimination protections and would promote discrimination in health care on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and sex - including pregnancy, gender identity, and sex stereotyping.
Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) hailed today’s landmark Supreme Court ruling that transgender people cannot be fired for who they are. In a 6-to-3 ruling, the justices issued a sweeping decision that affirms federal law protects transgender and non-binary as well as lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, rejecting the federal administration’s attempts to roll back employment protections.
Over the past few months, the critical importance of having a health care system that is accessible to the most marginalized among us has become impossible to ignore. Access to a health care provider means a transgender person is one step closer to being able to live authentically. This Pride Month, TLDEF is participating in the Give OUT campaign, and we have the chance to earn thousands in additional prize money if we have the most individual donors. You can help by starting a fundraiser to support health equity for transgender people.
Today the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a new rule that would invite insurance companies, hospitals, and health care professionals to illegally deny transgender people care despite protections mandated by the Affordable Care Act. The published rule reflects a lengthy effort by HHS to chip away at non-discrimination protections for transgender people. Although today’s rulemaking does not change the statutory protections of the Affordable Care Act itself, it threatens to mislead healthcare providers into thinking discrimination is legal. It will encourage unlawful discrimination and is an invitation to litigation.
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a series of unique challenges that may have long-term impact on transgender people and their families. TLDEF has prepared a series of "Know Your Rights" guides for transgender and non-binary people who are confronted by COVID-19 and questions related to employment, housing, health care, identification, and accessing assistance from government agencies among other issues.
A U.S. District Court judge today denied North Carolina state officials' request to dismiss a lawsuit filed last March challenging North Carolina's blanket exclusion of medically necessary transition-related health care from the state's employee health plan. In the lawsuit, TLDEF and Lambda Legal represent several current and former state employees and their children who were denied coverage under the plan.
TLDEF announced the launch of a new initiative designed to combat the systematic and pervasive health insurance discrimination facing transgender people across the nation. TLDEF staff attorney Noah Lewis to serve as Director of the Trans Health Project.
TLDEF today filed a federal lawsuit against Houston County for excluding medically-necessary transgender-related health care from its employee health plan. The lawsuit is on behalf of Anna Lange, a Houston County, Georgia Sheriff’s Deputy who has been on the job for 13-years.
TLDEF, The New York Civil Liberties Union, and the law firm BakerHostetler filed a lawsuit yesterday against Steuben County, the Steuben County Sheriff, and several officials and employees at the Steuben County Jail on behalf of a transgender woman whom jail officials housed in a men's facility while she was awaiting trial
Learn about our Name Change Project process or fill out a confidential Name Change Project intake form.
Email: namechange@transgenderlegal.org*
* Please note that we are unable to provide intakes or legal advice by email.
Updated on Jul 10, 2020
