A federal judge has signed an order permanently requiring the state to pay for gender reassignment surgeries for state and university employees and retirees, over the objections of Republican legislative leaders.
But the state likely won’t pay the lawyers who brought the case as much as they were seeking.
The lawsuit stems from efforts by Russell Toomey, a transgender professor at the University of Arizona, to obtain a state insurance plan that would cover the cost of a hysterectomy he had long desired.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court, Mr. Toomey complained that state insurance covers the cost of all “medically necessary” surgeries. And he argued that the procedure he wanted fit into the medically necessary category for his gender dysphoria, a feeling of incongruity between his biological sex and gender identity.
An executive order signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs in June directs the state’s human resources department, the Department of Administration, to remove language excluding “gender reassignment surgery” from health care policies currently available to state and university employees. That made him feel relieved. And retirees. And the order doesn’t just affect Toomey.
In a new order, Judge Rosemary Marquez says it would be wrong for her to cement a consent decree enforceable in federal court by lawyers for Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Thoma. rejected the claim. While Toomey’s surgery will have to be paid for, it will forever pay for the surgeries of others in similar situations.
Drew Ensign said it would “unreasonably interfere with the future policy decisions of the Arizona Legislature and violate the bedrock principles of federalism.” In any case, he said the governor’s order means the case is resolved, making the court order unnecessary and inappropriate.
The problem, Marquez wrote, is that the governor’s executive order is temporary.
“Her administration or a future administration could reinstate it at any time,” the judge wrote.
“Consent, therefore, provides additional relief to the (affected population) class beyond the changes brought about by executive order by making the lifting of the exclusion permanent.”
As part of the agreement, the state also agreed to pay $500,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union and the attorneys it hired during the four years the case was being filed.
The lieutenant said the lawyers should do nothing and leave in light of the governor’s executive order.
He told the judge: “It is effectively a redundant order that takes action that would certainly have been taken anyway even if an injunction had not been issued.” “Plaintiffs are not entitled to any compensation award, let alone $500,000 in taxpayer money, which is merely a memorial to the relief that Executive Order 2023-12 already provided them.”
ACLU attorney Christine Wee countered that the fees charged “reflect only a fraction of the cost and time spent on this litigation over the past four years.” And $500,000 is “well within a reasonable range,” she said.
The new Marquez agreed to some extent. He said the lawyers “accepted a significant discount” from their regular fees for the settlement, given the time they spent on the case.
However, the judge took issue with the hourly rates charged by the “New York state attorneys” in this case, even though they did not bill all the hours they claimed to have spent, stating that they were “typically charged by attorneys in this district.” “It’s much higher than the price.” They have comparable skills, experience and reputation. ”
And she agreed with Ensign, at least in part, about what all these legal efforts have resulted in.
“A significant portion of the relief obtained by the class in eliminating the plan exclusion was accomplished by executive order, independent of the efforts of class counsel in this case,” Marquez wrote.
But she said her lawyers had “worked diligently for over three years” to permanently lift the exclusion. The judge then reduced the state’s fees to $375,000.
Toomey is a professor of family studies and human development at the University of Arizona, where her research focuses on how sexual minority youth thrive despite the barriers and challenges they face.
In an interview with Capitol Media Services in June, Toomey said he knew from an early age that he was “different.”
“At the time I thought I was a boy, but everything and everyone around me was telling me, ‘No, come on, you’re a girl,'” he said.
But it wasn’t until he was at least 19 years old that he learned, through reading books and working with a counselor, that there was a word to describe what he was experiencing: gender dysphoria. was.
Shortly after, he started taking hormones and about a year later had breast reduction surgery, all of which he paid out of pocket.
“The need for hysterectomies has always existed for as long as I can remember,” he says. But Mr. Toomey waited to seek coverage for a hysterectomy until he had security of his tenure at the University of Arizona, first trying to change his policy and, if that didn’t work, filing a lawsuit. said.
Nor does he think that just because the uterus and ovaries can’t be seen from the outside reduces the need for surgery.
“It’s really hard to explain to people who aren’t transgender,” Toomey said. But it boils down to “recognizing that there are parts of your body, visible or not, that don’t belong because they don’t match your understanding of experience.” He said.
