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A Georgia County Spent Millions to Deny a Trans Deputy Health Care. It Failed.
2022 ruling that Houston County, in rural Southern Georgia, discriminated against Anna Lange, an 18-year veteran of the county’s sheriff’s office, when it refused to amend a decades-old exclusion on gender-affirming care in its employee health insurance plan.Under the exclusion, county dollars are prohibited from being used, either directly or indirectly through insurance, to pay for treatments meant to assist someone in transitioning from one gender to another.Following a two-day trial after that ruling, a jury found that Lange had been unfairly discriminated against due to the insurance exclusion, and awarded her $60,000 in damages.Houston County appealed the lower court’s decision to the 11th Circuit, seeking to overturn it. The appeals court subsequently found that the that a health insurance provider can be held liable under Title VII for denying coverage for surgical interventions — which might otherwise be offered to cisgender individuals — due a person’s transgender identity.Additionally, the 11th Circuit found that the lower court did not abuse its discretion when it granted a permanent injunction blocking the county from enforcing the health plan exclusions for gender-affirming care.Referencing Supreme Court precedent finding that anti-LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace is inherently a form of sex-based discrimination, the appeals court found that the insurance exclusion in Houston County’s plan was a form of unlawful discrimination.“The Exclusion is a blanket denial of coverage for gender-affirming surgery,” Circuit Judge Charles Wilson wrote for the 11th Circuit.
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Russian Student Sent to Prison for Displaying LGBTQ Symbols
declared “extremist” by the the country’s Supreme Court last year.He was sentenced to 15 days in jail.The 22-year-old was also fined 50,000 rubles — about $548 — for “discrediting the Russian army” in posts criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on his Telegram channel, which has since been deleted.Since the Supreme Court ruling, Russian authorities have cracked down on displays or media depictions of LGBTQ identity, conflating support for LGBTQ rights as contrary to existing social mores and traditional or religious viewpoints.They have also cast pro-LGBTQ movements as potential breeding grounds for liberal Western values, including representation for sexual and gender minorities, as well as opposition to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.Examples of these crackdowns have included raids on bars and nightclubs frequented by members of the LGBTQ community, the disruption of a “My Little Pony” convention for allegedly promoting homosexuality, and fines or prosecutions of individuals or Western media companies accused of displaying LGBTQ symbols or advocating on behalf of LGBTQ rights.In February, a woman was arrested and charged with spreading “LGBT propaganda” for wearing rainbow-colored earrings, while another was prosecuted for displaying a rainbow Pride flag on her Instagram account.That same month, a third woman was fined for displaying a Pride flag in the window of her house.In March, a man was arrested and charged for using “extremist symbols” when he sent a rainbow flag emoji in a private chat.According to France 24, Russian authorities have begun removing books with LGBTQ content from brick-and-mortar stores and from online libraries or catalogs.A new council set up by the Russian Book Union, a nominally
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Sarah Huckabee Sanders Defies Biden’s Transgender Protections
similar laws denying recognition of transgender identity that have passed in other states.It is inspired by Independent Women’s Voice’s “Women’s Bill of Rights,” a template that the right-wing organization has shopped around to encourage lawmakers to preserve single-sex spaces based on biological anatomy, and prevent individuals assigned male at birth from being legally recognized as female.A similar measure was introduced in Congress two years ago.Last month, the Biden administration issued new rules explicitly stating that LGBTQ students, and in particular transgender students, are protected from discrimination or harassment under Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination. Biden’s rules, which take effect August 1, prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in federally funded educational programs.The explicit protections were added in order to align the rules with the principles undergirding a landmark 2020 Supreme Court decision finding that the Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ workers from workplace discrimination, and that instances of anti-LGBTQ discrimination are inherently a form of sex-based discrimination.Since then, several states, including Oklahoma and Texas, have forbade local school districts from attempting to comply with the new rules.At least 14 states have filed or joined lawsuits challenging the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX, arguing that the law’s references to “sex” should only apply to biological sex.“Title IX was created to protect women,” Sanders, flanked by anti-transgender advocate Riley Gaines, said at the news conference.
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