Tara Borelli of Lambda Legal (Photo: Lambda Legal)
THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — An out-of-court settlement to a discrimination lawsuit filed by a transgender Oregon Court of Appeals clerk has resulted in sex reassignment surgery insurance coverage for all state employees. In addition, the state will pay Alec Esquival $36,000.
Esquival, a trans man, filed the lawsuit against the state and public employees benefits board after he was denied a doctor-recommended hysterectomy. Although a hysterectomy is a covered benefit, he was denied coverage because it was for the purpose of transitioning.
Esquival’s attorney Tara Borelli (of Lambda Legal): “When the state refused to provide him with coverage for the same medical procedure that co-workers could access, Alec was compensated less based on his gender identity. Oregon has now corrected that inequity.”
Oddly enough, a 2007 state law bans private insurance companies from gender or sexuality discrimination, seemingly allowing the public employees benefits board a loophole of some sort. With the settlement, that ambiguity is gone.
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Sources: Statesman Journal, AP
Tara Borelli of Lambda Legal (Photo: Lambda Legal)
More: http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/01/oregon_state_employee_benefits.html
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Filed under: Judicial, Courts, SRS, Sex Reassignment Surgery, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans, Alec Esquival, insurance, oregon, Tara Borelli
Love your blog, pic isn’t Alec, it’s Tara Borelli from Lambda.
Yikes! Okay, thanks, I’ll fix it.
What’s worse is that a disabled woman who is ill, low income due to disabilities, living on SSI, and receives Medicade (OHP) for her healthcare, cannot receive a hysterectomy when needed for health reasons. Why? Because OHP won’t pay for hysterectomies. Period. Not unless the OHP insurance carrier deems there is a life threatening illness to “warrant” one. This has got to change.