Federal Appeals Court Rules Transgenderism Is Protected as a Disability

A federal court has ruled that transgender people are protected from discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

On Tuesday, in a majority opinion from the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the court ruled that, “In light of the ‘basic promise of equality … that animates the ADA,’ we see no legitimate reason why Congress would intend to exclude from the ADA’s protections transgender people who suffer from gender dysphoria.”

Gender dysphoria is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a “clinically significant distress or impairment related to gender incongruence, which may include desire to change primary and/or secondary sex characteristics.”

This new ruling from the Fourth Circuit Appeals Court stems from a lawsuit in 2020 that was filed for Kesha Williams, a transgender inmate who was put in a Virginia men’s prison, even though he had received hormone replacement therapy for about 20 years, The Hill reported.

Williams was first incarcerated with women at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, but was then moved to the men’s facility after informing a nurse that he was transgender but had not had gender-affirming genital surgery.

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After Williams was placed with men, male inmates and deputies harassed Williams.

Williams eventually sued Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, along with a prison nurse and deputy, after being released from prison in 2019.

Williams alleged that the prison had violated the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act by not treating his gender dysphoria.

The sheriff’s office responded to William’s complaint by arguing that gender dysphoria is not a “disability” under the ADA, but rather it is “an identity disorder not resulting from physical impairments,” The Hill reported.

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In fact, the ADA as it was first adopted in 1990 specifically stated that gender identity disorder could not be defined as a “disability.”

The definitions section of the ADA specifically states, “Under this chapter, the term ‘disability’ shall not include…

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