Statement by NCLR Federal Policy Director Maya Rupert, Esq. (Washington D.C., August 6, 2012)—The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has confirmed that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) protects against discrimination on the basis of gender identity. The clarification, issued earlier this month, came in response to a letter submitted by NCLR and several other LGBTQ organizations. The letter from HHS confirmed that the anti-discrimination protections in section...
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transgender health
A U.S. district court judge in Massachusetts has denied the government’s request to dismiss the case of Vanessa Adams, a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate with gender identity disorder (GID). For years, the BOP denied Ms. Adams treatment for her serious medical condition. As a result, Ms. Adams attempted suicide multiple times when prison doctors failed to provide any treatment. She eventually removed her own genitals. Ms. Adams now challenges the federal policy that prison doctors and...
Jenniffer Spencer served a 10-year prison sentence for possession of a stolen car and a failed escape attempt that occurred when she was a teenager. While she was incarcerated in Idaho, Spencer, a transgender woman, made 75 requests for treatment for her gender identity disorder (GID), but the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) failed to provide her with any appropriate care. Spencer attempted suicide when she learned that prison doctors would not provide any treatment and eventually...
(San Francisco, CA, December 11, 2008)—Today, the California Senate Committee on Public Safety held an informational meeting to examine issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in California’s prison system. Chaired by Sen. Gloria Romero (D-East Los Angeles), the meeting focused on the problems faced by LGBTQ people who are incarcerated, including harassment and abuse, unequal access to healthcare, and difficulties faced when re-entering into society. “I am...