Ramping up its fight over the rights of transgender people, Texas is expected to file a lawsuit
Tuesday against the federal government over a regulation prohibiting discrimination against transgender individuals in some health programs.
Texas, on behalf of a religious hospital network, and four other states are claiming that the new federal regulation would force doctors to perform gender transition procedures on children. The rule on nondiscrimination in health care prohibits denying or limiting coverage for transgender individuals, including health services related to gender transition. A spokeswoman for the Texas attorney general's office said the state would file in the Wichita Falls-based district court Tuesday morning.
The filing comes just a day after a federal judge from that same district court sided with the state and blocked the Obama administration's guidelines to accommodate transgender students.
The nondiscrimination rule was proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in May.
