Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Reversing Trump Policy, Biden Revives Transgender Health Care Protections
The Washington Post: Biden Administration Revives Anti-Bias Protections In Health Care For Transgender People
The Biden administration said Monday it would provide protections against discrimination in health care based on gender identity and sexual orientation, reversing a policy of its predecessors that had been a priority for social conservatives and had infuriated civil liberties advocates. The reversal is a victory for transgender people and undoes what had been a significant setback in the movement for LGBTQ rights. (Goldstein, 5/10)
AP: Reversing Trump, US Restores Transgender Health Protections
The action by the Department of Health and Human Services affirms that federal laws forbidding sex discrimination in health care also protect gay and transgender people. The Trump administration had defined “sex” to mean gender assigned at birth, thereby excluding transgender people from the law’s umbrella of protection. “Fear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequences,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Everyone — including LGBTQ people — should be able to access health care, free from discrimination or interference, period.” (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/10)
In news about anti-transgender legislation in Montana, Texas and Ohio —
AP: Montana Governor Signs Bill Targeting Transgender Athletes
Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill Friday banning transgender athletes from participating in school and university sports according to the gender with which they identify, making Montana the latest of several Republican-controlled states to approve such measures this year. (Samuels and Hanson, 5/7)
Dallas Morning News: Spat Over Transgender Sports Bill Spills Over As Texas House Works First Weekend Of Session
In a rare Saturday session, some Democrats’ intense anger at House Public Education Committee Chairman Harold Dutton flared, a day after Dutton revived a Senate-passed measure that would bar transgender children from competing in athletic contests with members of a sex different from the one listed on their birth certificates. On Friday, Dutton, who is from Houston, united with Republicans to advance the transgender sports restrictions out of his committee. It was an act of retaliation against fellow Democrats who the previous day successfully lodged a parliamentary objection stalling his bill to virtually guarantee replacement of Houston school trustees with a state-appointed board. (O'Hanlon and Garrett, 5/8)
AP: Ohio Becomes Latest State To Propose Transgender Sports Ban
Transgender girls would be banned from participating in female sports teams in high school or college in two bills introduced by Republican lawmakers in Ohio, which became the latest state to take up the contentious debate. The proposals, titled the Save Women’s Sports Act, would require schools and higher education institutions in the state to designate “separate single-sex teams and sports for each sex.” (Amiri, 5/7)
Also —
The New York Times: ‘This Is Politics’: Dr. Rachel Levine’s Rise As Transgender Issues Gain Prominence
Dr. Rachel Levine was not a particularly aggressive football player at the elite all-boys school she attended in Massachusetts four decades ago. She loved drama and glee club, but when it came to football, she said, “I told the coach, ‘Well, I’ll tackle, but I don’t want to hurt them.’ ”Dr. Levine returned to Belmont Hill School as a guest speaker in 2016 and offered a little life advice to the boys clad in the same blue blazer and khaki pants uniform that she once wore: “Don’t make any assumptions.” Dr. Levine, a former Pennsylvania health secretary, is now President Biden’s assistant secretary for health, the first openly transgender person ever confirmed by the Senate, and she has taken office in the middle of something of a transgender moment. (Stolberg, 5/8)
