IDAHO, USA — A federal judge on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction and class action status in a lawsuit filed on behalf of transgender incarcerated people who sued the state of Idaho over House Bill 668, a law that prohibits state funds and facilities from providing gender-affirming care.
This means that all people in Idaho correctional facilities who are or will be diagnosed with gender dysphoria who would normally receive hormone therapy are now exempt from having to comply with the law for the remainder of the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are two transgender women incarcerated in Idaho prisons who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and have been prescribed hormone medications. As a class action lawsuit, they are representing other incarcerated individuals with gender dysphoria. They argue the law violates the Eighth Amendment as it denies them necessary medical treatment.
The defendants include Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt and Deputy Director Bree Derrick, and Centurion Health. The defendants argue that the state is in control of setting a standard for medical care.
Judge David Nye initially denied the plaintiffs’ request to proceed as a class action lawsuit because there was no evidence presented in the lawsuit showing numerous people in correctional custody had gender dysphoria.
Documents later presented to the court from Centurion, the health care provider employed by the Idaho Department of Correction, showed that before House Bill 668 took effect, 54 incarcerated people were receiving hormone therapy in Idaho prisons, and between 60 to 70 incarcerated patients had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
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