Transgender state worker sues PEBB over health coverage

[Shana A]

Transgender state worker sues PEBB over health coverage
2:14 PM, Jun. 21, 2011
Written by Dennis Thompson Jr.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20110621/UPDATE/110621011/Transgender-state-worker-sues-PEBB-over-health-coverage

A transgender state employee is suing the Oregon Public Employees' Benefit Board for refusing to cover the costs of surgery to remove his female reproductive organs.

PEBB denied Oregon Court of Appeals clerk Alec Esquivel coverage for a hysterectomy because "services related to a sex-change operation, including evaluation, surgery and follow-up services, are not a covered benefit," according to a lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court this morning by Lambda Legal, a national legal organization for LGBT civil rights.