Transcripts

SPEAKER: The rights of transgender Minnesotans and family members are at the heart of two legal cases making news this week. A Twin Cities judge has ruled Minnesota's ban on paying for gender reassignment surgery with state taxpayer dollars is unconstitutional. And a mother in northern Minnesota is challenging state laws she blames for depriving her of parental rights in the case of her transgender child. Lorna Benson has more.

LORNA BENSON: Advocates for transgender rights are hailing a Ramsey County court's ruling that the state's refusal to cover transition-related surgeries is a violation of the state constitution. State lawmakers enacted the ban in 2005. It only applied to people receiving state medical assistance and MinnesotaCare benefits. The move was sold as a cost-saving measure.

Judge William Leary III said the ban violates the right to privacy and interferes with the medical decisions transgender people make about their bodies. Teresa Nelson is legal director for the ACLU of Minnesota. She says the law also stigmatizes transgender people.

TERESA NELSON: It says from the state of Minnesota, transgender people, you are not worth as much as other people. And so we are not going to give you the medically necessary care that we give to other people.

LORNA BENSON: Evan Thomas was one of the plaintiffs in the case. The 64-year-old Saint Paul resident receives state medical assistance benefits and has been seeking transition surgery. Hormone treatments have helped Thomas develop more masculine features, but he has to bind his chest to hide his breasts. Thomas sought a bilateral mastectomy, but was denied coverage.

EVAN THOMAS: I'm constantly afraid as I'm out in public that people will realize, that they will notice, that I have an anatomy that does not correspond to the person I appear to be.

LORNA BENSON: As part of the lawsuit resolution, the Minnesota Department of Human Services has agreed to pay for Thomas's surgery, which is now scheduled for November 28. In another case that could affect transgender people, a Minnesota mother is suing Saint Louis County, two health clinics, and the St. Louis County School district for denying her parental rights over her underage child. The case involves a now 17-year-old who was born male and wants to make the transition to female. The teen has been able to access transgender medical treatment, including hormone therapy, without parental consent. Attorney Erick Kaardal is representing the mother.

ERICK KAARDAL: There's been no notice [? an ?] opportunity to be heard for the parents. And so this is about having a day in court.

LORNA BENSON: Kaardal says the teenager got a letter of emancipation at age 15 from a legal aid organization. With that document, Kaardal says, came eligibility for county benefits, including health care. School officials also honored the Emancipation status and withheld records from the mother. All that happened without a court order or any process to determine the mom's parental rights.

Kaardal is suing in federal court, challenging state laws allowing that to happen. The mother, Anmarie Calgaro, says she is not opposing the transition itself. But she says she was robbed of the chance to guide the decision.

ANMARIE CALGARO: I just wanted him to slow down and let himself develop naturally, and see if he still felt the same way at 18, when he is a legal adult, as he did at 15.

LORNA BENSON: That legal adult status arrives in July, possibly before a ruling could be made in the case. Her attorney Erick Kaardal says the suit could still go forward, though because she has other minor children who theoretically could pursue the same path. Meanwhile, a hearing on another transgender lawsuit involving a northeastern Minnesota school district was delayed. In that case, a group of parents and students are challenging a federal rule requiring transgender students to be allowed to use restrooms that suit their gender identity. Covering health, I'm Lorna Benson, Minnesota Public Radio News.

SPEAKER: And the state has said it won't appeal the ruling in the Ramsey County case. More on the story. Go to our website mprnews.org.