Transgender protection revoked
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Friday finalized a regulation that overturns Obamaera protections for transgender people against sex discrimination in health care.
The policy shift, longsought by the president’s religious and socially conservative supporters, defines gender as a person’s biological sex. The
Obama regulation defined gender as a person’s internal sense of being male, female, neither or a combination.
LGBTQ groups say explicit protections are needed for people seeking sexreassignment treatment, and even for transgender people who need medical care for common conditions such as diabetes or heart problems.
Behind the dispute over legal rights is a medically recognized condition called “gender dysphoria” — discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between the gender that a person identifies as and the gender at birth. Consequences can include severe depression. Treatment can range from sexreassignment surgery and hormones to people changing their outward appearance by adopting a different hairstyle or clothing.
Many social conservatives disagree with the concept.
Women’s groups say the new regulations also undermine access to abortion, which is a legal medical procedure.
“No one should fear being turned away by a medical provider because of who they are or the personal health decisions they have made,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center, raising the threat of a court challenge.
The ACLU has also said it would sue to over turn the Trump rule.
Under the Obamaera federal rule, a hospital could be required to per form gendertransition procedures such as hysterectomies if the facility provided that kind of treatment for other medical conditions. The rule was meant to carry out the antidiscrimination section of the Affordable Care Act, which bars sex discrimination in health care but does not use the term “gender identity.”
For the administration it’s the latest in a series of steps to revoke newly won protections for LGBTQ people in areas ranging from the military to housing and education.