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Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Attempt to Erase Transgender Health Protections

The Trump administration had tried to introduce a rule that discriminating against transgender people was permissible.

The Trump administration’s attempts to roll back protections against discrimination for transgender medical patients has been stopped at the 11th hour by a federal judge. The decision represents a significant blow to government efforts to erase transgender rights. The administration’s position was that discrimination against transgender people was not discrimination because of sex. However, the fittingly-named Judge Frederic Block of the United States District Court in Brooklyn found that was incompatible with a Supreme Court case which ruled that employers can’t discriminate against transgender people in the workplace. Judge Block’s ruling temporarily stymies enforcement of the new rule, which was due to take effect Tuesday. “When the Supreme Court announces a major decision, it seems a sensible thing to pause and reflect on the decision’s impact,” Judge Block wrote in his ruling. “Since H.H.S. has been unwilling to take that path voluntarily, the court now imposes it.”