In Federal Court, a Big Win for Transgender Rights

It's a significant victory for advocates of transgender rights: A federal appeals court based in Virginia has ruled that state-run health care plans must cover gender surgeries. The Washington Post reports that the ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is the first such decision in the nation. However, the Supreme Court may have the last word, notes the AP. Details:

• In North Carolina, NC State professor Julia McKeown sued after having to cover the full cost of her gender-affirming surgery. She is one of several plaintiffs in the case, called Kadel vs. Folwell. (Max Kadel is a state employee and transgender man who sued after losing coverage of testosterone, as NC Newsline previously reported.)
• In West Virginia, trans Medicaid users challenged a state law that bans "transsexual surgeries."

• In both states, administrators say their policies are based not on bias but on cost. The 8-6 majority opinion, however, called the policies "obviously discriminatory." In dissent, Judge Ray Richardson, an appointee of former President Trump, wrote that the federal court should butt out of such policy decisions.
• "Decisions like this one, from a court dominated by Obama- and Biden-appointees, cannot stand: We'll take this up to the Supreme Court and win," said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
• This is the same appeals court that ruled earlier this month that a school in West Virginia could not ban a trans girl, 13, from playing on the girls' track and field team.

(More transgender stories.)