This blog originally appeared at LGBTQ NATION.

She initially won her case after her employer refused to cover her healthcare, but that decision has since been overturned.

This blog originally appeared at

An anti-trans discrimination ruling from Georgia in May has been nullified by an appeals court, with half of its judges appointed by former President Donald Trump.

The case involves a transgender deputy who was denied equal medical care after the Houston County Sheriff’s Office refused to cover her gender-affirming care through their health insurance policy. This decision follows the county’s expenditure of $1.2 million in legal fees to avoid covering the deputy’s $10,000 surgery.

Sgt. Anna Lange, represented by the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), filed her lawsuit in 2019 after her employer refused to provide coverage for her gender-affirming care, despite her having worked for the Sheriff’s Office since 2006.

In 2022, a federal judge from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia ruled that Sgt. Lange had been illegally discriminated against, referencing the 2020 Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which determined that anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination falls under sex-based discrimination prohibited by Title VII.

While a three-judge panel from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Lange’s favor in May, the full court later ordered the case to be reheard, vacating the prior decision after Houston County appealed. A date for the new ruling has yet to be set.

In the 2022 case, Lange was awarded $60,000. This latest ruling will have significant implications for transgender individuals in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

Six of the 12 judges on the court were appointed by Donald Trump, making it one of the most conservative appeals courts in the country.

The panel’s decision in May stated, “Because transgender persons are the only (insurance) plan participants who qualify for gender-affirming surgery, the (county’s) plan denies health care coverage based on transgender status.”

It also concluded, “Houston County deprived Lange of a benefit or privilege of her employment by reason of her nonconforming traits, thereby unlawfully punishing her for her gender nonconformity.”