JACKSON, Mississippi — A federal district judge on Wednesday temporarily halted parts of an anti-discrimination rule that would have prevented insurers and medical professionals from denying hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgeries and similar medical care for transgender people.
U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. sided with 15 states that had argued that the language on which the rule was based — the 1972 law — Title IX nondiscrimination law — covers biological sex, but not gender identity. Guirola’s order applies nationwide to the Affordable Care Act rule, which would have gone into effect Friday.
It’s another blow to the Biden administration’s efforts to expand protections against discrimination. In recent weeks, three federal judges have ruled a rule in several states that would protect LGBTQ+ students by expanding the definition of sexual harassment in schools and colleges under Title IX.
Under the Obama administration, health care protections based on gender identity were added and removed under former President Donald TrumpEarlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services again expanded the scope of the Affordable Care Act rule to include discrimination based on “sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.”
But Republican attorneys general in Tennessee and other states — mostly in the South and Midwest — argued that the states would face financial burdens under Medicaid or other federal health care programs if they followed the new rule, or lose federal funding if they didn’t. The plaintiffs also argued that the rule was based on the federal agency’s “commitment to gender ideology over medical reality.”
During his testimony, an attorney for the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, Cody Smith, testified that the agency is not allowed to cover gender reassignment procedures for children under 18 — which is unusual — and that the state’s Medicaid program and the Children’s Health Insurance Program do not cover “surgical procedures to treat a mental illness.”
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said the Biden administration “has attempted to undermine Title IX by dramatically reinterpreting its meaning to apply to gender identity.”
“I am grateful that this judge has chosen to side with Mississippi and other states that have chosen to stand up for women and defend Title IX as it exists today,” he added.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Office for Civil Rights and the attorneys general for Tennessee and Mississippi did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s office said it would not comment on pending litigation.
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