DOCSLIB.ORG

Actualizing Health Care Equality for San Francisco's Transgender City and County Employees J

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Actualizing Health Care Equality for San Francisco's Transgender City and County Employees J Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal Volume 5 Article 3 Number 1 Winter 2008 1-1-2008 Taking it to the Bank: Actualizing Health Care Equality for San Francisco's Transgender City and County Employees J. Denise Diskin Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_race_poverty_law_journal Part of the Law and Race Commons Recommended Citation J. Denise Diskin, Taking it to the Bank: Actualizing Health Care Equality for San Francisco's Transgender City and County Employees, 5 Hastings Race & Poverty L.J. 129 (2008). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_race_poverty_law_journal/vol5/iss1/3 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Taking it to the Bank: Actualizing Health Care Equality for San Francisco's Transgender City and County Employees J. DENISE DISKIN 1 We are the city that has taught and insisted to the rest of the world that there should be equal benefits for equal work - we require that of private businesses that work with us - but we, the city, have not been living up to 2 our own standard.... Now, we're going to correct that. I. Introduction In February of 2007, news broke across the nation that Steve Stanton, City Manager of Largo, Florida, had been fired by a 5-2 vote of the city commissioners after his announcement that he planned to transition from male to female. Stanton had been employed as city manager for fourteen years, but city officials felt that after Stanton announced his plans to change genders, they had "lost confidence in his ability to lead." 3 In the majority of cities around the country, such a firing might only be cause for righteous indignation. In Largo, however, the vote was blatantly against the law as Largo is one of a growing number of cities in the United States that has a non-discrimination policy covering gender identity.4 1. Denise Diskin is a 2008 Juris Doctor candidate at University of California, Hastings College of the Law. 2. San Francisco City Supervisor Mark Leno, quoted in Rachel Gordon, S.F. Set to Add Sex Change Benefits, S.F. CHRON., Feb. 16, 2001, at 1A [hereinafter Gordon, Sex Change Benefits]. 3. Lorri Helfand, Largo Officials Vote to Dismiss Stanton, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, Feb. 28, 2007, at Al. 4. Human Rights Campaign Workplace Project Database of Employers, http://www.hrc.org/issues/workplace/search-employers.asp (follow "Prohibit [129] HASTINGS RACE & POVERTY LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 5 Like Largo, San Francisco protects its city employees from discrimination based on their gender identity. Written into San Francisco's city laws are broad prohibitions against discrimination based upon several factors, including race, creed, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, domestic partner status, marital status, disability, AIDS or HIV status, weight, and height.5 However, those extensive protections have not come without the efforts of countless community activists and city residents who have worked to make the case for anti-discrimination measures, and who have held the city accountable for creating policies that are anti-discriminatory in both word and action. 6 In this note, I chart the decisions made by San Francisco's Health Service System Board ("HSSB") and the San Francisco City Board of Supervisors to provide transition-related health care coverage to its transgender 7 city and county employees. In taking this action, San Francisco became the first city to fully actuate its anti-discrimination measure by funding transition-related medical costs for its city employees. Such medical costs are typically not covered for patients who are undergoing procedures as part of a gender transition, though they are covered for non-transgender (also called cisgendered) patients, creating a significant financial barrier to health care for transgender discrimination based on gender identity" hyperlink; then follow "Go" hyperlink next to "City and County Governments") (last visited Oct. 18, 2007) [hereinafter Human Rights Campaign Database]. 5. S.F., CAL., ADMIN. CODE ch. 12B-C., (2000) available at http://www. municode. com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=14131&sid=5. 6. See infra Part V. 7. "Transgender," as used here, refers broadly to people whose gender expression is nontraditional and/or whose gender identity is different than their birth gender. This term may include female or male cross dressers, drag queens or kings, masculine females, feminine males, or those who identify as genderqueer or who identify as neither male nor female. "Transgender" also encompasses the term "transsexual," which I use to refer to those who transition from one gender to the other with some degree of medical intervention. While many transsexuals consider themselves to be transgender, far fewer of those who identify as transgender identify specifically as transsexual. Individuals born biologically male who transition to become female may refer to themselves as male-to-female, or transgender women. Individuals born biologically female who transition to become male may refer to themselves as female-to- male, or transgender men. See generally SAN FRANCISCO HUMAN RIGHTS COMM'N, Compliance Guidelines to ProhibitGender Identity Discrimination(2003), http://www.sfgov. org/site/sfhumanrights-page.asp?id=6274; HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN, TRANSGENDER AMERICANS: A HANDBOOK FOR UNDERSTANDING 7-9 (Human Rights Campaign Fund 2007). Winter 20081 TAKING IT TO THE BANK employees. 8 While this decision has cost the city relatively little money and impacted a nearly statistically insignificant number of people,9 its greater implications for considering deprivation of health care a discriminatory issue are enormous. In this note, I first use San Francisco's health care coverage to discuss the intersectional marginalization of transgender communities, communities of color, and poor communities. Next, I analyze these communities' access to legal rights in connection with their access to medical care, using a great deal of the research on the needs and experiences of the San Francisco transgender community done by the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Finally, I discuss the organizing strategies employed by activists, so that this note may serve not only as an analysis of the impact of their efforts, but also a guide for activists wishing to replicate these movements in their own communities. In order to give the credit deserved to the work of the members of the Transgender Community Task Force, who worked on this issue for such a long time, it is imperative for me to note that because this movement to convince a public entity to negotiate with its insurance provider to obtain transition-related medical coverage was entirely the first of its kind, much of the reporting of the events at the time was obtained through personal interviews and journalistic accounting. A substantive history of this period of activism has not been recorded, and as a law student with limited resources, I was unable to perform all of the interviews that deserved to be included in this account. Many of the activists in this particular moment of San Francisco history have continued to work for the rights of marginalized communities, and have inspired the work of many up and coming transgender and ally activists as well so that San 8. Some of the medical procedures commonly undergone as a part of gender transition include hormone therapy (wherein patients take the hormones testosterone, estrogen, or progesterone in order to acquire some of the secondary sex characteristics of their desired sex), hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries), mastectomy (removal of breast tissue), chest reconstruction (most often performed on transgender men; surgical reconstruction of skin and nipples to create a masculine-appearing upper torso), vaginoplasty (surgical creation of a vagina and female genitals), metoidioplasty or clitoral release (surgical creation of a phallus and sometimes testicles from pre-existing female genitalia and/or testicular implants), and phalloplasty (construction of a penis using grafts from other parts of the body and/or testicular implants). 9. See infra note 127. HASTINGS RACE & POVERTY LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 5 Francisco can become an ever-more-supportive community for all people. 10 II. The Problem of Obtaining Health Care in Transgender Communities A. Intersecting Health, Race, Class, and Gender in San Francisco It is tempting to view transgender people as members of a monolithic community, with common needs and oppression because of their gender identities; however this is in fact not the case. The U.S. and California Censuses do not collect data on whether people identify as transgender. Even if they did, the diversity of transgender identifications and communities, as well as a lack of social visibility and legitimacy would make it very difficult to obtain reliable data about gender, let alone other factors such as race or household income. It is reasonable to assume, however, that transgender people come from communities and backgrounds as varied as cisgendered people. That diversity of background and experience also means that the priorities and experiences of discrimination are very diverse, and layered with the myriad ways in which transgender people
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Paradox of Authenticity: the Depoliticization of Trans Identity
    The Paradox of Authenticity: The Depoliticization of Trans Identity THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Meredith Cecilia Lee Graduate Program in Women's Studies The Ohio State University 2012 Master's Examination Committee: Professor Shannon Winnubst, Advisor Professor Mary Thomas Professor Jian Chen Copyright by Meredith Cecilia Lee 2012 Abstract The language of authenticity that valorizes the mind over the body is embedded in Cartesian dualism, which thereby inspires an entirely personal understanding of self- fulfillment. Within the trans community, this language depoliticizes trans issues by framing nonnormative gender presentation as a personal issue. This paper examines the relationship of Cartesian dualism to the paradoxes of authenticity in trans medico- scientific discourse. For example, to express authenticity and gain social recognition within the medical model of trans identity, an individual must articulate her/his desire within the normative language of the medical establishment; therefore, the quest for authenticity is already foreclosed through the structures of normalization. This paper argues that, while medical procedures typically normalize one’s body to “pass” as the other sex, these procedures are also necessary for many trans individuals to gain social recognition and live a bearable life. The notion that trans individuals are “trapped” in the wrong body has been the dominant paradigm since at least the 1950s. This paper argues that centering gender in the body constructs gender as ahistorical and thereby erases the political, economic, and cultural significance of trans oppression and struggle. This paper concludes that the systematic pathologization of nonnormative sex/gender identification has historically constituted the notion that gender trouble is indeed a personal problem that should be cured through medical science.
    [Show full text]
  • Transgender-Inclusive Health Care Coverage and the Corporate Equality Index
    Transgender-Inclusive Health Care Coverage and the Corporate Equality Index www.hrc.org/transbenefits 1 CEI 2O12 TRANSGENDER-INCLUSIVE HEALTH CARE coVERAGE Contents 3 Introduction 4 Gender Identity and Gender Transition-Related Health Care: Understanding This Condition 6 The CEI Criteria and Transgender-Inclusive Health Care Coverage 6 Baseline Coverage for Credit 7 More Comprehensive Coverage for Workforce 9 Businesses That Offer Atleast One Transgender-Inclusive Heath Care Coverage Plan 10 Understanding Your Plan: Examining Exclusions, Eliminating Them and Affirming Coverage 10 Insurance Exclusions 11 Negotiating Coverage: Tools for Success 11 Standards of Care: World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) 12 Questions for Insurance Carriers – Affirming Coverage and Adherence to WPATH 13 Ensuring Coverage of Specific Services 14 FAQ: Transgender-Inclusive Health Care Coverage 14 What do I need to know for my “elevator pitch” with leadership to get the coverage at my employer? Can you summarize it in five points? 14 Why should we be covering this. Isn’t it a choice to change genders? 14 Are these cosmetic surgeries? We don’t cover those. 15 What types of services and procedures are medically necessary parts of sex reassignment? 15 Won’t these changes to our plans be very expensive? 15 Our insurance carrier representative has told us that few if any plans ever cover services for sex reassignment. Is this true? 15 What carriers are administering plans with coverage of sex reassignment surgeries and procedures? 16 We never list out every treatment that is covered by our plan. Why do we need to explicitly state coverage here? 17 Which other employers are currently offering transgende-inclusive health plans? 17 We are self-insured.
    [Show full text]
  • From “Telling Transgender Stories” to “Transgender People Telling Stories”: Transgender Literature and the Lambda Literary Awards, 1997-2017
    FROM “TELLING TRANSGENDER STORIES” TO “TRANSGENDER PEOPLE TELLING STORIES”: TRANSGENDER LITERATURE AND THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS, 1997-2017 A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Andrew J. Young May 2018 Examining Committee Members: Dr. Dustin Kidd, Advisory Chair, Sociology Dr. Judith A. Levine, Sociology Dr. Tom Waidzunas, Sociology Dr. Heath Fogg Davis, External Member, Political Science © Copyright 2018 by Andrew J. Yo u n g All Rights Res erved ii ABSTRACT Transgender lives and identities have gained considerable popular notoriety in the past decades. As part of this wider visibility, dominant narratives regarding the “transgender experience” have surfaced in both the community itself and the wider public. Perhaps the most prominent of these narratives define transgender people as those living in the “wrong body” for their true gender identity. While a popular and powerful story, the wrong body narrative has been criticized as limited, not representing the experience of all transgender people, and valorized as the only legitimate identifier of transgender status. The dominance of this narrative has been challenged through the proliferation of alternate narratives of transgender identity, largely through transgender people telling their own stories, which has the potential to complicate and expand the social understanding of what it means to be transgender for both trans- and cisgender communities. I focus on transgender literature as a point of entrance into the changing narratives of transgender identity and experience. This work addresses two main questions: What are the stories being told by trans lit? and What are the stories being told about trans literature? What follows is a series of separate, yet linked chapters exploring the contours of transgender literature, largely through the context of the Lambda Literary Awards over the past twenty years.
    [Show full text]
  • Corporate Equality Index 2004
    CORPORATE EQUALITY INDEX On Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Social Responsibility 2004 HRC SENIOR STAFF Cheryl A. Jacques President Harvey Hurdle Chief Operating Officer As America’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organization, the Human Rights Jacquelyn J. Bennett Campaign provides a national voice on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression Director of Executive Affairs issues. HRC effectively lobbies Congress; mobilizes grassroots action in diverse communities; Steven Fisher Communications Director invests strategically to elect a fair-minded Congress; and increases public understanding through Andrea Green innovative education and communication strategies. HRC is a nonpartisan organization that works Finance Director to advance equality based on sexual orientation and gender expression and identity, to ensure that Julian High Human Resources & Diversity Director gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work Seth Kilbourn and in the community. National Field Director Kevin Layton General Counsel & Legal Director HRC WORKNET Kim I. Mills The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s workplace project, HRC WorkNet, is a national source Education Director of information on laws and policies surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity and expres- Cathy Nelson Development Director sion in the workplace. HRC WorkNet advises employees and employers on the value of workplace Christopher Speron diversity. It collects, analyzes and disseminates information to assist employees and employers in Deputy Director of Development implementing policies and procedures aimed at treating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender work- Winnie Stachelberg Political Director ers equally. For more information, visit the HRC WorkNet website at www.hrc.org/worknet, or con- tact HRC WorkNet at 202/216-1552 or via e-mail at [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • CONTENTS Jamison Green: Transgender Activist
    Interview Backgrounders Kendall Bailey and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ................................................................2 David Barr and the Early Days of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic ......................................6 Terry Boggis and LGBT Family Rights ...................................................................... 10 James Dale Takes on the Boy Scouts of America 14 ................................................... CONTENTS Jamison Green: Transgender Activist ...................................................................... 18 Michael Levine and the Stonewall Rebellion .......................................................... 22 Phyllis Lyon, the Daughters of Bilitis and the Homophile Movement .............. 26 Charles Silverstein and the Declassification of Homosexuality as a Mental Illness .............................................................................................................. 30 David Wilson and the Struggle for Marriage Equality ......................................... 34 © 2011 Anti-Defamation League, www.adl.org/education GLSEN, www.glsen.org StoryCorps, www.storycorps.org 1 Kendall Bailey and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Introduction to the Interview (Running Time: 2:01) Kendall Bailey joined the U-S Marine Corps in 2001. Five years later he was a sergeant assigned to a recruiting office in Virginia and was considering becoming career military. At StoryCorps, Kendall told his friend, Don Davis, how because of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell those plans changed. Questions to Discuss with Students
    [Show full text]
  • 2014 Crown & Anchor: Orientation Brunch
    Fantasia Fair Participant’s Guide 1 2 /The 40th Annual Fantasia Fair Fantasia Fair Participant’s Guide 3 The 40th Annual Fantasia Fair Fantasia Fair is a weeklong transgender event held every October in the resort town of Provincetown, Massachusetts. The Fair attracts people from the entire range of the LGBT community: cross‐dressers, transsexuals, intersex individuals, MTFs, FTMs, anyone who considers themselves gender variant and their significant others as well as professionals with an interest in the community. Started in 1975, Fantasia Fair is the oldest and longest‐running gathering of transgender persons for mutual education, support, collaboration, and socializing. Fantasia Fair offers general and specific programs, as well as evening events designed to develop the whole individual. For more information about Fantasia Fair, including registration, pricing, refund policy, and scholarships, please visit the Fantasia Fair website at fantasiafair.orgH .H You can also join us on FaceBook at www.facebook.com/groups/fantasiafair . 4 Table of Contents Table of Contents The 40th Annual Fantasia Fair ............................................................................... 3 Table of Contents .................................................................................................. 4 From the Director ................................................................................................. 7 From the Staff of Fantasia Fair 40 ......................................................................... 9 Getting Started
    [Show full text]
  • CORPORATE EQUALITY INDEX 2O14 Rating American Workplaces on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality
    CORPORATE EQUALITY INDEX 2O14 Rating American Workplaces on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality Of the Nation’s Largest Businesses Demonstrated 734 Their Commitment to LGBT Equality and Inclusion ©2013 by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation owns all right, title and interest in and to this publication and all derivative works thereof. Permission for reproduction and redistribution is granted if the publication is (1) reproduced in its entirety and (2) distributed free of charge. The Human Rights Campaign name and the Equality logo are trademarks of the Human Rights Campaign. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and design incorporating the Equality logo are trademarks of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. ISBN 978-1-934765-29-0 ISBN 1-934765-29-x A Record Year for Corporate Equality CORPORATE EQUALITY INDEX 2O14 Rating American Workplaces on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality 3 Letter from HRC Foundation President 5 Executive Summary 8 Equality at the Fortune-Ranked Companies 10 Rating System and Methodology 12 The Evolution of the Criteria 13 Criteria 19 Findings 20 Non-Discrimination Policies 24 Equal Benefits 30 Organizational Competency 36 Public Commitment 40 Going Global: LGBT Workplace Inclusion Abroad 43 Appendices 44 Appendix A. Corporate Equality Index: Employers With Ratings of 100 Percent 52 Appendix B. Corporate Equality Index: Ratings and Criteria Breakdowns 73 Appendix C. Corporate Equality Index: Ratings by Industry, Descending Score 96 About HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program Project Staff 97 Acknowledgments 98 HRC Business Advisory Council www.hrc.org/cei 2 CORPORATE EQUALITY INDEX 2O14 CEI 2O14 Letter from HRC Foundation President Chad Griffin This year marks the 12th edition of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index.
    [Show full text]
  • Jeffrey Dickemann
    AR496 Transgender Collector Ace. No. 2014-013 2 boxes Jeffrey Dickemann Box 1: 1.1 Correspondence -general, 1995-2005 1.2 Brochures- bulletin-- pamphlets- media release- program, 1995-1997, 2002- Our Trans Children: A publication of the Transgender Special Outreach Network of Parents, 1998 1.3 Articles- miscellaneous, 1992-2002 -The Blank Point: What is Transsexualism? 1992 -Visible Man by Jamison Green, 2002 -There's a New Sheriff in Town, by R. Scott Gerdes, no date (transgender tapestry) - Reclaiming Out History: The 2nd FTM Conference of the Americas, by Andy Gavin, 1996 -Tricks or Traitors by Jackie Cohen, 2001 - Can the nascent transgender community resolve the age-old battles between the sexes? By Dorie Clark, 2000 - Transgender: From the Personal to the Political by Jamison Green, 1998 -Judge Gives transsexual Father Custody of Children in Florida by the associated press, 2003 - Where did we go Wrong? Feminism and Trans theory- two teams on the same side? By Stephen Whittle, 2000 -Andrei: A Family Tradition and Denis: Raised on Soldiers' Milk by Steve Kokker, no date -Costs ofTransgender Conferences by Dallas Denny, 1997 - WO- Forget Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by Sally Lehrman, 1997 - The Measure of a Man by Marcy Sheiner, 2000 1.4 Articles - miscellaneous, 1991-1997 - Talking about without talking about: The use of protective language among transvestites and transsexuals by Jason Cromwell, 1995 - Multiple Personality order: An Alternate Paradigm for Understanding Cross-Gender Experience by William A. Henkin, 1995 -Traditions of Gender Diversity and Sexualities: A Female to Male Transgendered by Jason Cromwell, 1994 -The Five Sexes- Why male and female are not enough by Anne Fausto-Sterling, 1993 - Some Girls Will Be Boys by Marcy Sheiner, 1991 - Aging across the lifespan: Implications of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation by A.E.
    [Show full text]
  • How Inclusive Language Can Account for the Diversity of Sexual Minority Populations in the Employment Non- Discrimination Act Meredith R
    Hofstra Law Review Volume 37 | Issue 3 Article 7 2009 Finding Common Ground: How Inclusive Language Can Account for the Diversity of Sexual Minority Populations in the Employment Non- Discrimination Act Meredith R. Palmer Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Palmer, Meredith R. (2009) "Finding Common Ground: How Inclusive Language Can Account for the Diversity of Sexual Minority Populations in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act," Hofstra Law Review: Vol. 37: Iss. 3, Article 7. Available at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr/vol37/iss3/7 This document is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hofstra Law Review by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Palmer: Finding Common Ground: How Inclusive Language Can Account for the NOTE FINDING COMMON GROUND: HOW INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE CAN ACCOUNT FOR THE DIVERSITY OF SEXUAL MINORITY POPULATIONS IN THE EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT I. INTRODUCTION The Employment Non-Discrimination Act ("ENDA") aims to protect all American employees who are or may be perceived as gay, lesbian, or bisexual by prohibiting discrimination in employment or employment opportunities, including, "firing, hiring, compensation, terms, conditions and privileges of employment .... "' Thus, ENDA creates a cause of action for any individual who is discriminated against because that individual is "'perceived' as a homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual, whether or not they actually identify as such.2 This Note explores possible language for ENDA, a measure that has been the primary legislative vehicle for extending federal protection from employment discrimination on the basis of an employee's actual or perceived sexual orientation.3 The effect of ENDA's language on the scope of protection for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ("LGBT") 4 community has 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace
    Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace: A Toolkit for Employers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Business Gender Best Transition Health Business Everyday For Case Audit Practices Guidelines Care Culture Realities Allies This publication and accompanying videos were generously made possible by a grant from the Brown-Forman Corporation. ©2016 by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation owns all right, title and interest in and to this publication and all derivative works thereof. Permission for reproduction and redistribution is granted if the publication is (1) reproduced in its entirety and (2) distributed free of charge. The Human Rights Campaign name and the Equality logo are trademarks of the Human Rights Campaign. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and design incorporating the Equality logo are trademarks of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace: A Toolkit for Employers 2 Transgender Inclusion 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Business Gender Best Transition Health Business Everyday For in the Workplace Case Audit Practices Guidelines Care Culture Realities Allies A Toolkit for Employers Section 1 5 Transgender Inclusion & the Business Case 9 Trends in Transgender Inclusion: A Rising Tide for Transgender Inclusion 9 Trend Toward Inclusive Workplaces 10 Trend Toward Legal Protections 17 Trend Toward Increasing Visibility and Cultural Awareness Section 2 20 Evaluate Your Workplace: Take the Gender Review 21 Gender Identity and Gender Expression Workplace Review Form Section 3 29 Navigating Gender Inclusion in Gendered Spaces: Best Practices 29 Non-Discrimination Policy 30 Administrative and Record-Keeping 31 Access to Facilities 32 Sample Restroom Policy By clicking on the top left tab on any page in this 33 Responding to Employee Concerns Regarding Restrooms or Locker Rooms toolkit, you will be returned 34 Self-Identification to the contents page.
    [Show full text]
  • Costs and Benefits of Providing Transition-Related Health Care Coverage in Employee Health Benefits Plans FINDINGS from a SURVEY of EMPLOYERS
    Costs and Benefits of Providing Transition-Related Health Care Coverage in Employee Health Benefits Plans FINDINGS FROM A SURVEY OF EMPLOYERS Jody L. Herman, Ph.D. Manager of Transgender Research Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellow September 2013 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A growing number of employers, both public Twenty-one of the 34 employers in the study and private, are providing coverage in employee provided information about the actual costs from health benefits plans for transition-related health employees utilizing the transition-related health care to treat gender dysphoria. In order to inform care coverage. employer-based decisions and current policy • Two-thirds (14 employers) reported no actual debates regarding provision of this coverage, this costs resulting from employees utilizing the study describes the experiences of 34 employers coverage. who provide transition-related coverage in their • One-third (7 employers) reported some actual health benefits plans. Overall, we find that costs related to utilization by employees. transition-related health care benefits have zero or very low costs, have low utilization by employees, • However only three of the seven employers and yet can provide benefits for employers and reported the actual costs with any degree employees alike. of specificity. All three of these employers reported that their actual costs from utilization are Employers report very low costs, if any, from very low: adding transition-related coverage to their - In one case, actual cost over two years was health benefits plans or from actual utilization of only $5500, which comprised only 0.004 the benefit after it has been added – with many percent of total health care expenditures.
    [Show full text]
  • Evaluating the Medical Necessity of Gender Reassignment Through International Standards Chad Ayers
    Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice Volume 18 | Issue 2 Article 9 3-1-2012 The eedN for Change: Evaluating the Medical Necessity of Gender Reassignment Through International Standards Chad Ayers Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Health Law and Policy Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, and the Sexuality and the Law Commons Recommended Citation Chad Ayers, The Need for Change: Evaluating the Medical Necessity of Gender Reassignment Through International Standards, 18 Wash. & Lee J. Civ. Rts. & Soc. Just. 351 (2012). Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj/vol18/iss2/9 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice at Washington & Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice by an authorized editor of Washington & Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Need for Change: Evaluating the Medical Necessity of Gender Reassignment Through International Standards Chad Ayers* Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................. 352 I. Overview of Transgender Medical Needs .................................... 354 II. Barriers to Transition-Related Medical Care in the United States359 A. State Medicaid Statutes ........................................................
    [Show full text]