NEWSBRIEF: ACLU files suit against Georgia over Transgender Health Care

Press release from the ACLU:

ATLANTA — The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit on behalf of two transgender women who have been denied access to gender-affirming care under Georgia Medicaid. The lawsuit filed on behalf of Shon Thomas and Gwendolyn Cheney claims that Georgia’s ban on gender-affirming surgeries violates the U.S. Constitution, the Affordable Care Act, and the Medicaid Act.

“Ms. Thomas and Ms. Cheney have each been denied health care because of Georgia’s unconstitutional and unlawful ban on gender-affirming care for transgender people,” said Taylor Brown, staff attorney with the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project. “If they were not transgender, Georgia Medicaid would cover the procedures they seek. This is discrimination and it is against the law. At a time when many in our country are having long overdue conversations about racial disparities in our health care system, it is important that the health care needs of Black transgender people, like Ms. Thomas and Ms. Cheney, are a part of that conversation.”

Full release here