A group of U.S. federal employees filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging a ban by President Donald Trump's administration on health insurance coverage for gender-affirming care for government workers.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management policy bars coverage for treatment such as hormone therapy, hysterectomies and facial surgery if it is used for "gender transition," but otherwise allows coverage.
"This exclusion targets gender-affirming care ... and thereby singles out current and former employees who are transgender or gender non-conforming," the plaintiffs said in the complaint.
The change will impact at least 39,400 current or former federal employees and dependents, the plaintiffs said, citing a July report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
OPM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The workers who sued are represented by the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, and a legal team that includes Cathy Harris, a partner at Correia & Puth whom Trump removed last year from the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, which hears federal workers' appeals when they are disciplined or fired.
The plaintiffs had filed an internal complaint with OPM on the day the ban took effect in January, a necessary step before suing in court.
The policy is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to restrict or eliminate gender-affirming care for transgender people, and specifically for minors. Trump signed an executive order last year declaring it official government policy that there are only two sexes, male and female, and they are unchanging.
Under a policy enacted in 2015 during Democratic former President Barack Obama's administration, federal health insurance plans were permitted to offer "less than full" coverage for gender-affirming treatment. The policy now in effect prohibits any coverage at all.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal laws banning workplace discrimination including Title VII, ruled earlier this year that the Obama-era policy was not discriminatory. The agency cited a 2025 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a Tennessee law prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors.
The case is Doe v. Kupor, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:26-cv-02723.
For the plaintiffs: Cathy Harris of Correia & Puth
For the government: Not available
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