Judge temporarily blocks Biden administration's restoration of transgender health protections

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — A federal district court judge on Wednesday temporarily halted parts of a nondiscrimination rule that would have kept insurers and medical professionals from denying hormone therapy, gender transition surgeries and similar medical care for transgender people.

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. sided with 15 states that had argued the language the rule was based on — the 1972 Title IX nondiscrimination law — encompasses biological sex, but not gender identity. Guirola's injunction applies nationwide to the Affordable Care Act rule, which would have gone into effect Friday.

It's another blow to the Biden administration's efforts to expand anti-discrimination protections. In the past few weeks, three federal judges have blocked a rule in several states that would protect LGBTQ+ students by expanding the definition of sexual harassment at schools and colleges under Title IX.

Health care protections based on gender identity had been added under the Obama administration and removed under former President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services again broadened the scope of the Affordable Care Act rule to include discrimination based on “sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.”