Commemorating Transgender Awareness Week

Today marks the start of Transgender Awareness Week, which takes place from November 13-19 and leads up to November 20, which is National Transgender Day of Remembrance. Transgender Awareness Week was created to help raise the visibility of trans people and to help enlighten and engage the public in order to destigmatize the trans community.

This year, Transgender Awareness Week is starting off with a lawsuit. Lambda Legal, along with the help of others, is filing a federal lawsuit over West Virginia’s exclusion of gender-confirming care in the state’s Medicaid plan.

The case, Fain vs. Crouch was officially filed yesterday, November 12th, 2020.

Lambda Legal states,

we are suing the state on behalf of Medicaid recipients who were denied coverage for hormone replacement therapy, even though such therapy is covered by the state-run insurance programs for people using it as a treatment for health conditions unrelated to gender confirmation. The blanket exclusions of care coverage are stated expressly in the health plans offered to Medicaid participants and state employees.

 

Let’s hope that this lawsuit is the starting point for something better to come. For a nation that’s more inclusive, more caring, and more willing to help others. Let’s head into Transgender Awareness Week with pride, courage, a feeling of community, and a desire to help our fellow LGBTQ family members live in a more peaceful, welcoming nation.