The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation has filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of federal employees denied gender-affirming care for themselves and their families.
The lawsuit claims the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is directing insurance providers to deny coverage for gender-affirming care under the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) and Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) plans.
In a statement, HRC said federal employees and their dependents have lost insurance coverage for vital healthcare, potentially placing care out of reach for many people solely because of who they are.
Transgender people continue to face numerous barriers to access best-practice, potentially life-saving medical care, and this move represents just the latest attack from a Trump administration obsessed with undermining the rights and freedoms of transgender people, the statement said.
“Untold numbers of federal employees and their families will be left out to dry at the hands of a shameless administration hell-bent on targeting the transgender community. This policy is not about cost or care – it is about driving transgender people and people with transgender spouses, children, and dependents out of the federal workforce,” HRC Foundation President Kelley Robinson said in the statement. “These federal employees will now be forced into an impossible situation that pits them between their jobs and access to the care they need. That is discrimination, plain and simple, and the HRC Foundation refuses to let it stand without a fight. Our litigation seeks to honor those federal workers and preserve the rights, respect, and dignity they deserve.”
The filing with OPM asserts that excluding coverage for gender-affirming healthcare violates Title VII protections against discrimination based on sex, which apply to the terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.
To receive updates on the case, visit https://www.hrc.org/fehp-class-action.