Trump-stacked appeals court overturns trans worker’s court victory

A Georgia anti-trans discrimination ruling from May has been voided by an appeals court, half of whose judges were appointed by former President Donald Trump.

The ruling concerns a transgender deputy who was denied equal medical care when the Houston County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office refused to cover her gender-affirming care under their health insurance policy. This comes after the county spent $1.2 million dollars in legal fees to avoid paying for the deputy’s $10,000 surgery.

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A county spent $1.2 million in legal fees to deny a trans employee health care. They just lost.

“It has been deeply painful to have the county fight tooth and nail, redirecting valuable resources toward denying me basic health care.”

Represented by the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), Sgt. Anna Lange began her lawsuit back in 2019 after her employer denied her gender-affirming care even though she had worked for the Sheriff’s Office since 2006.

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In 2022, a federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia ruled that Lange had been illegally discriminated against, citing the 2020 Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, where the Court found that anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination is a form of discrimination on the basis of sex prohibited by Title VII.

While a three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in her favor in May, the full court ordered that the decision be heard again, vacating the prior ruling, after Houston County appealed. The date for the next ruling remains to be heard.

Lange was awarded $60,000 in the 2022 case. This new decision will affect transgender individuals in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

Six out of the 12 judges were appointed by Donald Trump, making it one of the most conservative appeals courts in the nation.

“Because transgender persons are the only (insurance) plan participants who qualify for gender-affirming surgery, the (county’s) plan denies health care coverage based on transgender status,” the panel said in its decision in May. 

“Houston County deprived Lange of a benefit or privilege of her employment by reason of her nonconforming traits, thereby unlawfully punishing her for her gender nonconformity.”

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