News

TLDEF announced the launch of a new initiative designed to combat the systematic and pervasive health insurance discrimination facing transgender people across the nation. TLDEF staff attorney Noah Lewis to serve as Director of the Trans Health Project.

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF)  and Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit against North Carolina officials today for discrimination in state employee health care. The North Carolina State Health Plan (NCSHP), the state employee health plan, categorically excludes coverage for gender-confirming health care. TLDEF and Lambda Legal are representing several current and former state employees and their children who were denied coverage under the plan for medically necessary health care because they are transgender.

A U.S. District Court judge today denied North Carolina state officials' request to dismiss a lawsuit filed last March challenging North Carolina's blanket exclusion of medically necessary transition-related health care from the state's employee health plan. In the lawsuit, TLDEF and Lambda Legal represent several current and former state employees and their children who were denied coverage under the plan.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a series of unique challenges that may have long-term impact on transgender people and their families. TLDEF has prepared a series of "Know Your Rights" guides for transgender and non-binary people who are confronted by COVID-19 and questions related to employment, housing, health care, identification, and accessing assistance from government agencies among other issues.