Trump administration's denial of gender-affirming care to federal employees is unlawful, says LGBTQ+ group

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has taken the next step in litigation over denial of gender-affirming care coverage to federal employees by filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The complaint, filed Tuesday, asserts that the denial of this coverage violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII forbids sex discrimination in employment, including the terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 in Bostock v. Clayton County that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity falls under the definition of sex discrimination.

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The foundation, an arm of HRC, and the law firms Correia & Puth and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll filed the complaint on behalf of federal workers. Last year, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent a letter to insurance carriers last year saying that as of 2026, “chemical and surgical modification of an individual’s sex traits through medical interventions (to include ‘gender transition’ services)” would no longer be covered under the Federal Employee Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits plans. There is a narrow exception for people who are mid-treatment.

The HRC Foundation and the law firms filed a complaint with OPM last month, and OPM had 30 days to respond before they could file a complaint with the EEOC. That did not resolve the issue, so the lawyers filed the EEOC complaint. The EEOC now has 180 days to resolve it before the lawyers take the case to federal court. They are seeking class action status in the case, which means any ruling would apply to all federal workers and dependents who are affected. An administrative judge may decide in the coming months whether the matter can proceed on a class basis.

The EEOC, under Donald Trump’s administration, has already proved to be unfriendly to transgender and nonbinary people. EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, appointed by Trump in 2020 and named chair by him last year, has said that under her watch, the agency would not advocate for trans and nonbinary people, in keeping with Trump’s “two sexes” executive order.

In January, the agency rescinded LGBTQ-inclusive guidance about what workplace harassment looks like and how to fight it. Lucas has a narrow view of the Bostock decision, claiming it applies only to hiring and firing, not to the workplace environment. The EEOC has only three commissioners now when it is supposed to have five. It has a 2-1 Republican majority, as Trump fired two Democratic commissioners.

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The HRC Foundation and its partners say they are committed to fighting the gender-affirming care ban. “The Trump administration is weaponizing medical care to push transgender public servants and their families out of their jobs and back into the closet,” HRC Foundation President Kelley Robinson said in a press release. “This policy is textbook discrimination, and we will continue to advance this litigation until our federal employees and their families get the respect, care and dignity they deserve.”

“The federal government is supposed to be a model employer, ensuring that federal employees are free from prohibited personnel practices,” added Cathy Harris of Correia & Puth. “Instead, OPM’s policy prohibiting health care for transgender employees is direct evidence of discrimination, plain and simple.”