Federal judge refuses to accept Christian beliefs as excuse for company's anti-trans discriminationhttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/10/federal-judge-refuses-to-accept-christian-beliefs-as-excuse-for-companys-anti-trans-discrimination/ 🔗Daniel Villarreal (1 Oct 2026)
A federal judge ruled on September 28 that a Christian-owned machine parts manufacturer in New Hampshire can't dismiss a transgender employee's discrimination lawsuit under a religious exemption claim. However, the judge also dismissed the employee's claim that the company's refusal to cover her gender-affirming healthcare illegally discriminated against her disability.
Lillian Bernier began working for Turbocam International — a company that makes machine parts for vehicles, airplanes, and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems — in June 2019. She began transitioning to a female gender in October 2020. Her doctor and mental health counselor subsequently diagnosed her with gender dysphoria, and she legally changed her name in February 2021.
A month before her name change, Turbocam changed its Harvard Pilgrim and HPI health insurance plan from one that covered gender-affirming healthcare to a self-funded plan that specifically excluded treatments for gender dysphoria, including counseling, hormone therapy, and surgery, the NH Journal reported. The new plan allowed Turbocam to grant individual exceptions to these exclusions, but the company declined to grant them for Bernier's needs.
The exclusion caused Bernier to cancel a planned procedure and to begin paying expensive out-of-pocket costs for her continued care.
She filed a lawsuit in November 2023, alleging that the company had violated Title VII, a federal law prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sex; a state law prohibiting sex- and gender identity-based discrimination; the Affordable Care Act, a 2010 federal law that forbids healthcare discrimination in insurance plans that also receive federal funding; and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and a state law, which both count gender dysphoria as a disability that affects her workplace abilities.--------------------------
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