Ohio: “Transgender Lawsuit Settled, Cincinnati Public Library Now Covers Transgender Surgery”
From the Cincinnati Enquirer/Cincinnati.com:
Rachel Dovel didn’t mean to become a crusader for transgender rights. But the library employee found herself cast in that role last year when the library’s health insurance refused to pay for her gender confirmation surgery – and the library’s board wouldn’t budge.
She underwent surgery in December – and Monday she and her legal team announced she settled a lawsuit against the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
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Under terms of the agreement, the library:
- Changed its healthcare plan effective Jan. 1 to include transgender surgery and other medical care for transgender people
- Agreed to listen to the recommendations of its employees about purchasing and offering LGBT-related materials and events
- Will continue its practice of using gender-neutral employment forms and providing gender-neutral restrooms when feasible
- Offer employees training on LGBT inclusion.
- It’s not clear if there was a monetary settlement. Jennifer Branch, whose law firm Gerhardstein & Branch along with the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Law Office of Scott Knox, declined to comment on that.
Read the Complete Article (718 words + Video)
Background
Cincinnati PL Board Votes Not To Support Coverage of Gender Confirmation Surgery (via Library Journal; July 2016)
Filed under: Libraries, News, Public Libraries
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.
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