A US district court judge in Maine has sided with two transgender women who were denied gender-affirming surgeries through a US military health plan.

Reports LGBTQ Nation:

In her 28-page ruling, Barack Obama appointee U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen said that the women, identified as Jane Doe and Susan Roe, had their rights violated under the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution when the military tried to argue for statutory exclusion of the two from receiving essential health care.

“Because the Defendants offer no justification for denying coverage of gender transition surgeries, they fall far short of their burden under intermediate scrutiny to show the Statutory Exclusion is substantially related to achieving an important governmental objective. The Plaintiffs are therefore entitled to summary judgment,” she wrote.

While having received surgery prior, both individuals say that they were discriminated against for not being able to access additional surgeries that were medically necessary. They argued they were discriminated against on the basis of sex and their transgender status.

“They were nonetheless facially discriminatory because they targeted treatments for gender dysphoria,” Torreson said, “which is inextricable from transgender status.” She added that the military and Department of Defense failed to establish a “government objective” for why they were denying these surgeries.

Read the complete story at lgbtqnation.com.

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