Earlier this month, in the face of the Trump administration’s attempts to deny transgender Americans civil liberties and Gov. Chris Sununu’s pointed silence, a bipartisan group of legislators in the House Rules Committee rejected this radical agenda and took a huge step forward in securing equality for transgender Granite Staters.
The committee approved a recommendation from the Department of Health and Human Services, declaring that transgender men and women who rely on Medicaid can receive coverage for gender confirmation surgery. This surgery allows transgender men and women to align their bodies with their gender. This decision marks tremendous progress in the way that the government and public view this surgery and transgender people.
In accepting this proposal, the House Rules Committee also acknowledges that someone’s income shouldn’t determine whether or not they can follow through with a procedure to confirm their gender identity. Medicaid is used to provide people with the health care they need. In extending coverage to gender confirmation surgery, the committee is allowing everyone to use Medicaid for its intended purpose.
This decision is the right one, both morally and legally, and the bipartisan support behind the ruling reveals the public’s recognition that transgender men and women deserve the opportunities to live their lives as equals among everyone else.
It was both heart-warming and surprising to hear the committee affirm the HHS recommendation. In the past year, while public perception regarding transgender Americans continues to evolve, both the Trump administration and the Sununu administration have allowed and tacitly supported denying transgender people the same rights as all Americans.
Last spring, several radical New Hampshire legislators forcibly tabled a bill that would have protected transgender civil rights. Despite the bill receiving bipartisan support, a few senior members of the House derailed the legislation and refused to even allow debate on the matter. When asked to comment on these transphobic actions, Gov. Sununu’s only response was that he had “no personal opinion” on the matter.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions echoed Sununu when just a few weeks ago, he stated the Department of Justice would no longer prosecute workplace harassment against transgender people, marking a reversal of the Obama-era policy. The Trump administration’s actions disregard the discrimination transgender Americans experience on a daily basis. This decision, of course, came after Trump also declared on Twitter that transgender soldiers shouldn’t be allowed in the military.
But while Trump and Sununu are working to derail transgender rights, New Hampshire state legislators are securing them. Regardless of the what the Trump administration does, and Gov. Sununu readily accepts, they cannot take away the rights of transgender people who rely on Medicaid because gender confirmation surgery is officially covered in the state of New Hampshire.
(Gerri Cannon is a transgender representative for PFLAG-NH.)