John –

This morning the Campaign for Southern Equality was honored to join a group of brave individual plaintiffs, our legal partners at the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, and our community partners at Georgia Equality and National Center for Transgender Equality to file a lawsuit against the state of Georgia.

Right now, Georgia state employees who are transgender – or the trans dependents of state employees – are being denied medical treatment solely because they are transgender. This new lawsuit seeks to change that. CSE is proud to be a plaintiff in the case, on behalf of our members in Georgia, who deserve access to critical, medically necessary health care.

The individual named plaintiffs in this case are two transgender people who work as employees of Georgia government agencies – Micha Rich and Benjamin Johnson – and the parent of a young adult child who is transgender. We’re honored to serve as plaintiffs alongside them. Click here to read more about this critical case in Georgia. 

Micha, one of the plaintiffs, said today, “I love my job. I love what I do and that I get to work in service of the public good. But my employer should not be able to deny me health care because of who I am. For years, I had to put off living my life fully while I waited to have the medical treatments that my doctors and I knew I needed. I grew up in Georgia, I went to college in Georgia, and now I work for the state of Georgia. I want to see Georgia lead on treating people fairly.”

The truth is that far too often, government institutions and extremist forces discriminate against transgender people by limiting our access to necessary health care. The government  forces itself into the conversations – and decisions – that should be between a medical provider and a patient, it harms us, it limits our treatment options, and it's just plain wrong.

This lawsuit is about protecting dignity and equality for transgender Georgians. Please read more about it by clicking here. 

Thank you for being with us every step of the way,
Holiday Simmons
He/Him
Director of Healing & Resilience
Campaign for Southern Equality