The city of Springfield is again accused of discriminating against LGBTQ employees. Former city library employee Kate Holt, a transgender woman, claims the city violated state law by refusing to cover her medical expenses related to gender transition.
Transgender people have a variety of ways to go about transitioning. Some, like Holt, regularly take hormonal treatments via shots or pills. Holt started a job at the city library in February 2020. “My prescriptions were excluded from insurance,” said Holt in a post on the website for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. “They were excluded not because they were exotic or unreasonably expensive. My medications are common and covered for other medical conditions. I had already taken them under a physician’s care for more than two years without any problem. And the medications are covered for transgender people by other insurance plans, including our statewide Medicaid system.”
Holt claims she had sought coverage for the medication she took for gender dysphoria over the course of several months in 2020. Gender dysphoria is the clinical designation of the feeling that one’s gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. In June, the city’s Joint Labor/Management Health Care Committee denied Holt’s request for prescription coverage and said no change would be made, according to the ACLU of Illinois, which assisted Holt in filing the charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights in November. City spokesperson Julia Frevert said via email that the city “has not received a copy of the complaint” and once it does, it “will review and provide a proper legal response.”
Professor Jason Pierceson teaches political science at University of Illinois Springfield, with a focus on the intersection of law, public policy and the LGBTQ community. In 2012, he advocated that the city expand its medical insurance coverage to include partners of those in same-sex relationships in order to comply with state law – a move the city ultimately took. Meanwhile, in a city health benefit plan reviewed by Illinois Times, there is currently a limitation in coverage “except where required by law” for “sex transformation and hormones related to such treatment.”
“The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity, which would be the most relevant statute that this policy contradicts,” Pierceson said, noting there are other state and federal laws that the policy not to cover gender transition treatment also potentially violates.
“There’s a history of the city of Springfield discriminating against its LGBTQ employees,” Pierceson said, referencing how in 2012 the city held that civil union partners of employees would not be eligible for insurance benefits. “The question is why this continues to happen.”
In 2015, ACLU of Illinois raised the issue over insurance coverage for transgender employees with the city of Chicago, after an employee there was also denied health insurance benefits for transition-related health care. That resulted in a change of policy, and city of Chicago employees are now covered for gender reassignment services, including surgical intervention.
The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy group and lobbying organization, rates cities across the country for its Municipal Equality Index. Of the nine Illinois cities it rated for 2020, only Chicago and Peoria earned points for having transgender-inclusive health insurance benefits.
Holt no longer works for the city, having left her position in November. But Josh Blecher-Cohen, a legal fellow with ACLU of Illinois, said Springfield now has the opportunity to take a step in a more inclusive direction and set a new precedent. “Because the policy in Springfield’s insurance plan is so broad and categorically denies transition-related health care to any employee, a victory here would ensure that all trans employees of the city – present and future – would have access to the health care that they need.”
Contact Rachel Otwell at rotwell@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Home for the holidays, sadly.
