Stop Trans Health Care Discrimination Change.org Petition

For a long time the topic of being transgender was something seen as taboo but as it gains more needed traction many medical entities are starting to see that in fact being transgender is NOT a mental illness but a medical condition no different then FAI, heart diseases, or more commonly asthma. But as it has been seen time and time again companies blatantly put discriminatory exclusions to care within 75% of their policies made available to the general public. Making obtaining proper healthcare such as even regular physicians visits nearly impossible for many all because the care is deemed as transition related and immediately kicked back as denied!

That's from a Change.org petition created by A. Rob, who is frustrated like many transpeople are about the automatic exclusions for trans medical care written into the health care policies that many US transpeople have to deal with.

It is the odious legacy of radical feminist trans oppressor Janice Raymond,  whose 1980 Social and Ethical Aspects of Transsexual Surgery paper to the US government resulted in the stripping of state and federal aid to indigent trans people and the insurance companies beginning to add transsexual medical exclusions in their policies with deleterious results to our lives and our health.

WPATH and the American Medical Association are just two of the professional organizations that reject the Raymondite thinking and have been pushing the insurance companies to drop those anti-trans coverages based on Raymond's transphobic letter and the discrimination it creates. 

From the June 16, 2008 AMA resolution

"RESOLVED, That the AMA support public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder (Directive to Take Action); and be it further


RESOLVED, That the AMA oppose categorical exclusions of coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder when prescribed by a physician (Directive to Take Action)"

A Rob's goal is to get 10,000 signatures on this petition, and you can sign it by clicking this link 

Former New Zealand MP Beyer Having Tough Time

Back in 1999 she made headlines and gave the international trans community a huge sense of pride in her trailblazing achievement when she became the first open trans person on the planet to be elected to their national legislature.

Now 54 year old Georgina Beyer has hit hard times since leaving New Zealand's Parliament and after selling her home and possessions to stay afloat financially is collecting unemployment and now living in a one bedroom apartment. 

You would think that Ms Beyer as a former Labour MP would be hired by someone in New Zealand wishing to take advantage of her twenty years of government experience, her party would be scrambling to find her something or someone would have her giving paid motivational speeches at their events to help her out.

But I suspect there's something else at work here.   Can you say "anti-trans discrimination" TransGriot readers?   Thought you could.

Vandy Beth Glenn Gets A Major Court Win

Vandy Beth Glenn continues to rack up legal wins in her ongoing discrimination case against the Georgia General Assembly and her transphobic supervisor Sewell Brumby.

She got a major one in the Glenn v. Brumby case yesterday as a three judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta (that included former anti-gay Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor) issued a unanimous ruling yesterday in favor of upholding Glenn's July 2010 lower federal court legal win just five days after hearing arguments in the December 1 appeal.

Judge Pryor even suggested along with Judge Rosemary Barkett during the appeal arguments that transpeople may be a protected class.

The 11th Circuit covers the states of Georgia, Florida and Alabama and in case you're wondering which presidents appointed the judges that heard this case, Pryor was a G.W. Bush appointee, Barkett was appointed by Clinton, and Kravitch by Carter. 

Elections matter people.  But back to the wonderful legal news.

The court said that discrimination against a transgender person based on gender-nonconformity is sex discrimination and it upheld a lower-court ruling that Glenn’s firing was based on sex discrimination.


Judge Rosemary Barkett writing for the unanimous three-judge federal panel, which included Judge William Pryor and Senior Judge Phyllis Kravitch, said, “An individual cannot be punished because of his or her perceived gender-nonconformity. Because these protections are afforded to everyone, they cannot be denied to a transgender individual. . . . A person is defined as transgender precisely because of the perception that his or her behavior transgresses gender stereotypes.”

The decision goes on to read: “We conclude that a government agent violates the Equal Protection Clause’s prohibition on sex-based discrimination when he or she fires a transgender or transsexual employee because of his or her gender non-conformity.”


Wow.   Lambda Legal, who filed the original lawsuit on behalf of Glenn, said in their response to the unanimous legal victory

"The court could not have been more clear: It is unfair and illegal to fire a transgender employees because their appearance or behavior transgress gender stereotypes,” said Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office in Atlanta. “Employers should take note of this important ruling.”

"The law is on our side, but everyone shouldn’t need a lawyer to help them fight workplace discrimination. Congress must pass the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) because we still need a federal law to tell employers unequivocally that discrimination against LGBT employees in the workplace is illegal. We are proud of Vandy Beth for standing up for her rights—her courage has helped clear the path for others."

And may have given us a landmark trans legal rights victory in the process.

San Antonio Macy's Employee Fired For Denying Dressing Room Access To Trans Person

TransGriot Note: In the interest of journalistic integrity, need to point out before diving into this story that I used to work for Macy's from 2001-2006

The hatin' on transpeople for the holidays continues.

A transperson who was shopping at Macy's San Antonio's Rivercenter store was denied access to a dressing room by a transphobic employee because it would violate her 'Christian' beliefs.

A few days after Thanksgiving the transwoman was denied access to the women's fitting rooms in violation of Macy's corporate anti-discrimination policies which cover TBLG people by Natalie Johnson. 

Yo Massachusetts,.there's that pesky Public Accommodations issue rearing its head again. But back to the latest concrete example of why comprehensive trans human rights laws with public accommodations language are necessary. 

It touched off an altercation between her and the transwoman, fellow shoppers and her manager that Johnson was subsequently terminated for. 


She is being defended by the conservafool Liberty Counsel who take up the legal fight for people who believe they have wrongfully terminated for 'religious liberty' reasons.

Translation of religious liberty:  it's conservafool speak for believing they can be as bigoted and discriminatory as they wanna be and hiding their faith based hatred of LGBT people behind the Bible.

"Macy’s does not comment on personnel matters,” said Melissa Goff, a regional spokeswoman for the company about the incident at the  San Antonio Rivercenter store involving Johnson. “At Macy’s we recognize and appreciate the diversity of our customers and associates.”

Note to faith based conservafools.  Your faith doesn't give you the right to oppress people you don't like much less override your corporation's anti-discrimination policies, and hopefully that lesson will be hammered home when the case goes to court.