Two transgender women have sued Florida over a law that prohibits state employer-provided health plans from covering gender reassignment or modification services.
Jami Claire, 62, and Kathryn Lane, 38, argue that Florida state healthcare policy violates the Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. They have partnered with several organizations, including the ACLU of Florida and Southern Legal Counsel, in the suit.
Their lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Florida, argues that both Claire and Lane’s gender dysphoria, a condition where one feels distress because of a psychological disconnect between their gender identity and biological sex, have worsened because they have had to delay transition-related care.
“We brought this lawsuit because all people need access to medical care. This is not about special treatment; this is about equal treatment,” head counsel of the suit Simone Chriss said. “Transgender state employees are singled out and explicitly denied coverage for one reason: They are transgender. That is discrimination, and it cannot stand.”
Chriss added, “It’s the overwhelming consensus of the medical community, scientists, the people that have actually studied the long-term effects, the economic benefits that this should be covered.”
Both Claire, a researcher at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and Lane, an assistant attorney at the office of the public defender of Tallahassee, were born as biological males and have transitioned their gender identity to female. Now, Claire is seeking a gender reassignment surgery recommended by her doctor, but her state insurance won’t cover the operation.
Lane, who has sought medical coverage for transition operations since 2012, was denied coverage for a “facial feminization surgery” twice. The lawsuit says Lane has undergone “significant anxiety, depression, and psychological distress” because of the Florida law.
Both have had to pay out-of-pocket for some of their medical expenses. Claire claims she’s spent over $55,000 since she began her male-to-female transition in 1997, but claimed she was forced to stop because of finances. She claimed that she later tried to commit suicide on three separate occasions.
The lawsuit once contained three plaintiffs, including the former director of the University of Florida’s LGBTQ center Billy Huff, a transgender man. Huff claimed he needed to move to Illinois because Florida’s state healthcare policy had “too great an impact on his gender dysphoria.”
“When I was looking to leave, I only applied at universities that were in states that covered transition-related healthcare. That was one of my main qualifications,” said Huff. Now, Huff will be called as a witness in the case.
