Senator Blake Tilley. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
State employees who use the state -funded health plan can soon be blocked by the preservation of gender -known care such as hormone therapy.
The Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that intends to do exactly that. Before it can become law, the house must adopt until April 4th and signed by governor Brian Kemp. In this case, national workers who received gender -specific support from the plan have received a different cover by the beginning of 2026.
“If the state goes through its open registration period, we make it clear to all state employees that we will not use state taxpayers' dollars in order to pay for this gender-known care and transgender operations longer,” said Senate 39 of Senate 39, Vidalia Republican Senator Blake Tilley.
The legislation would apply to both the plan of the plan and to their minor children.
Sen. Blake Tilley and Lt. Governor Burt Jones listen to Senator Nan Orrock. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
The state prohibited the fact that gender -specific care for minors, but Tillery said that the law was necessary, since a gap could enable parents to receive prohibited treatments for their minor children from the state plan.
“While the general assembly clearly spoken and spoken and said loudly, we do not believe that these operations should occur in our state, there is a back door that happened here,” he said. “The back door that is passed by these operations about Georgia's minors. Transgender operations on Georgia Minors, paid for Dollar with Georgia, but since we banned in Georgia, do you guess where we pay for you? Outside the state. “
Tilley said he didn't know how often a small Georgian gender -specific care could have become from the state. Experts say that operations are rarely discussed as an option for minors, and standard care for minors would rather include therapy, social transition and hormone replacement.
Tilley referred to Rich against Georgia, a case of 2023, in which a group of state workers who were denied gender -known care sued the state. The state approved a court connection of 365,000 US dollars with three employees.
The Democrats of the Senate argued that the search for the rock of the conditions of this unification would open up the state for new lawsuits.
“Our own lawyer called the call to rule Rich against Georgia, because according to his expert opinion, he knew that this would be a struggle that the state could not win,” said Senator Nikki Merritt, a Democrat of Grayson.
The democratic Senator Kim Jackson proposed a change in the Transgender Act of Tillery, of which she said that they would not be excluded for transgender people in the state health plan, but the senators agreed after Tillery found that his law did not Would prohibit treatments. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Harold Jones, Chairman of the Senate Minister, said that the draft law could probably also violate title VII of the Civil Rights Act against two cases of Georgia. In Bostock v. Clayton County decided the US Supreme Court that an employer who sparked an employee only violated the law because of gay or transgender. In Lange against Houston County, a district court decided that a health insurer can be liable in accordance with title VII Houston County has appealed against this decision at the 11th Court of Appeal and has not yet concluded.
“For me, the law is clearly illegal, frankly,” said Jones. “There is no hope that the law of a kind of constitutional challenge or title VII challenge will withstand, especially if the law is clear – in our circle. The 11th circuit addressed this problem. This case in Houston County was a case of 2024, so it just happened. “
LGBTQ advocates also fear that, in contrast to previous legislative templates, this legislation would also influence the medical decisions of adults through medical or sports participation.
Republican Senator Matt Brass proposed a change in Tillery's transgender ban, which would have banned state contracts with a party that contained transgender problems within the framework of the contract. Brass withdrew his change so as not to water down the underlying invoice. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
“The supporters of SB39 were dishonest and misleading by characterizing the legislative template as a measure Best Practice Medical Supply for transgender -growing,” said Bentley Hudgins, director of the state of human rights, Georgia.
“SB39 is a cruel health ban that is unconstitutional, discriminatory and is a real threat to medical freedom for all Georgians,” they added. “The government has no business work, the medically necessary care of someone, including transgender youth or adults. As soon as we are granted that the government has this power, all our care is at risk. “
How to deal with transgender gear according to the law remains a hot push of the button this year. After a convincing victory for President Donald Trump, the GOP legislators can see that pressing the problem could help them with their base.
The Senate has already adopted a ban on transgender girls who play in the sports teams of girls and the house will present its own version. The legislator was also able to consider invoices to ban medication for puberty blocking for transgender minor year olds.
Sen. Colton Moore. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
The Republican Senator of Trenton, Colton Moore, whose right -wing extremist positions and unconventional tactics have contradicted him with other Republicans, described the health law as the “most effective and advantageous law that we have so far passed in this body in this body”.
“My friends on the democratic side, they always like to talk about reproductive rights,” said Moore. “But we refuse people's reproduction for eternity when we transmit their gender. This is the basis of a society is the family block. I think taxpayers should be used to promote a society, to expand sovereignty and not to destroy it by using this money for transgender operations. “
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