Legal experts say the lawsuit filed against the hospital for failing to provide medical treatment to a transgender person is a lawsuit brought against the Daily Caller News Foundation after LGBTQ activists asked medical professionals to affirm gender transition. He said this could suggest a new approach to enforcing the law.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) It has been submitted On February 14, 18-year-old Kayden Kent, a biologically female patient who identifies as transgender, filed a lawsuit against Kayden Kent, an 18-year-old biological female patient who identifies as transgender, saying the hospital's policy of not offering sex-reassignment mastectomies violated state anti-discrimination laws. A lawsuit was filed on behalf of. As hospitals face penalties for refusing to provide sex-reassignment surgeries, legal experts interviewed by DCNF said the argument could be taken up in more lawsuits and eventually reach the same level as the Supreme Court. He said it could become. (Related: ACLU sues Virginia Department of Education over model policy for trans students)
Sarah Parshall Perry, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Edwin Meese III Center for Law and Justice Research, urges DCNF to urge activists in other states to follow the ACLU's lead and expand the scope of discrimination laws. He said he would. Sexual orientation and gender identity protect the right to transgender procedures.
“First of all, Colorado's anti-discrimination laws will continue to be brought up because Colorado has done two things: They defined sex to include gender identity and gender expression. , essentially creating a new category of individuals protected under state law, but also expanding the concept of public accommodation under state law as well,” Parshall-Perry said.
The ACLU's argument relies heavily on Colorado. anti-discrimination law (CADA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity and disability in places of public accommodation. The complaint alleges that gender dysphoria “limits one or more things.” [Kent’s] Therefore, the hospital's decision not to treat Kent violates CADA.
Baker Jack Phillips poses at Masterpiece Cake Shop in Lakewood, Colorado, USA on September 21, 2017. Photographed on September 21, 2017. (Reuters/Rick Wilking)
CADA is involved in two prominent Supreme Court cases, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis and masterpiece Both cases, Cakeshop v. Colorado, concerned whether businesses can express their beliefs about gender and sexuality. Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, told the DCNF that the ACLU's lawsuit is not about the right of executives to speak freely, but rather whether hospitals must provide services to transgender people. He said it would be a “battle of experts.”
“The question will be whether the ACLU's framework is correct, that this hospital performs cancer surgery but not gender dysphoria, or whether it is correct that this hospital is a healthy organization and a diseased organization.” Shapiro said. “If a hospital has no discriminatory motive, such as not treating people who identify as transgender or non-binary, regardless of their gender identity, then the hospital will instead treat people of any gender identity… You'll have to take expert testimony,'' and determine whether the hospital is reasonable. ”
“A hospital's obligation to non-discriminate is not the same as its obligation to provide affirmative 'gender-affirming care,'” Parshall Perry told DCNF, adding that over time, policies like Children's Hospital Colorado's It is likely that more hospitals will adopt the system, which could lead to further lawsuits. .
Shapiro said if the court rules in the ACLU's favor, hospitals may find it “hard to resist” performing medical procedures on transgender people, even if they feel it's dangerous. Stated. As a result, medical professionals and hospitals that don't want to perform gender reassignment medical procedures could be forced to file lawsuits themselves in the future, Parshall-Perry said.
The court is currently considering similar lawsuits from the American Association of Pediatricians and the Catholic Medical Association. sued The Department of Health and Human Services stated that in 2021, “discrimination based on sexual orientation; and… discrimination based on gender identity” is prohibited. Plaintiffs argued that the new rules would force doctors to violate their religious beliefs by requiring them to operate on transgender people, and would impose penalties if they refused.
The case is was fired The case was appealed by a lower court and then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in January.
Both Shapiro and Parshall Perry said the ACLU's lawsuit could eventually reach the Supreme Court, but Shapiro told the DCNF that such a lawsuit would be “highly expensive” to succeed. He said he was facing “hurdles”.
“This is a standard of care issue, and the court must hear expert testimony and determine whether the hospital was being reasonable or whether there is evidence of ulterior motives,” Shapiro said. Ta. “While there is not much case law on this matter, unless there is ulterior motive, challengers face a high hurdle, especially if there are still other hospitals willing to perform this type of surgery available to patients. To do.”
The ACLU and Children's Hospital Colorado did not respond to DCNF's requests for comment.
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