Trans News/ Issues

[Corkey]

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/06/16...ampaign=buffer

[*Anya*]

New York State Sued Because Trans-Exclusionary Medicaid Regulation Has Got To Go

Posted by Maddie on June 27, 2014 at 5:00am PDT

Last week, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Legal Aid Society and the law firm of Willkie, Farr and Gallagher filed a class action lawsuit against the state of New York, which has discriminated against transgender people seeking healthcare since 1998 with a regulation that categorically denies Medicaid coverage for gender affirming healthcare. SRLP has been working to reverse this regulation since they opened in 2002.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two women, Angie Milan-Cruz and I.H., who have both been denied medically necessary healthcare by New York State Medicaid because of the discriminatory regulation. While Milan-Cruz and I.H.’s names are on the suit, Sylvia Rivera Law Project staff attorney Elana Redfield said, “Class action is the right avenue for this case, because so many people are impacted by the issue. We estimate that as many as 8,000 people could be affected by this regulation — too many to represent on a case-by-case basis.”

In a press release on the SRLP website, SRLP Staff Attorney Pooja Gehi said, “This regulation aggravates discrimination against a community that is already struggling to survive… When our clients cannot access healthcare they need, they have a harder time getting identity documents such as state ID, or getting jobs, housing, and basic social services.” The release also described the legal case they are making against the regulation:

“The lawsuit challenges the regulation on three main legal points:

>>> New York State’s Medicaid regulation conflicts with the federal Medicaid Act, which prohibits certain forms of discrimination in state Medicaid programs. Medicaid discriminates because it provides most of the healthcare transgender people need to others who are not transgender.

>>>> New York State’s Medicaid regulation conflicts with the Affordable Care Act, section 1557, which prohibits discrimination in health care on the basis of gender identity expression amongst an entity that receives federal funding.

>>> The New York State Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes sex stereotyping. Denial of necessary medical care solely on the basis of assigned birth sex is discrimination on the basis of sex stereotyping.”

The suit comes shortly after the Obama administration’s recent announcement that gender affirming healthcare will no longer be excluded from federal Medicare coverage. While this announcement still leaves state Medicaid programs like the one in New York free to keep regulations like the trans exclusionary one intact, Redfield is hopeful states to follow the federal government’s lead:

“Since the Medicare decision, we have also seen Massachusetts reverse its exclusion, and Washington state declare that transgender discrimination is illegal in private healthcare. I think it’s only a matter of time before other jurisdictions follow suit.”


http://www.autostraddle.com/new-york...-to-go-242956/

[LeftWriteFemme]

Man Crush Monday: Jaden Remy Introduces You to Philly’s Hottest Trans Bachelors



http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/20...t=#gallery-1-1

[LeftWriteFemme]

'Trans Bodies, Trans Selves': A Modern Manual By And For Trans People



http://www.npr.org/2014/07/17/332051...r-trans-people

[ProfPacker]

I heard the interview on NPR yesterday it was really meaningful

[JDeere]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...ef=transgender

[MsTinkerbelly]

Bill AB1577 the "respect after death" law was signed into effect by Governor Jerry Brown, allowing a person to have their gender identity of choice listed on their death certificate.

The person "closest" to the deceased will be allowed to say what the gender is, and people may sue to be that person or bring forth documentation from the deceased if it looks like someone is not using what the deceased would say was their identity.