Macon Magazine

Georgia is no exception, with five anti- LGBTQ+ bills currently advancing in the state legislature in 2023. Simultaneously, some of the biggest victories protecting gender identity and sexuality in the workplace have come from Georgia's justice system. In the 2020 decision Bostock v. Clayton County, the United States Supreme Court affirmed in a 6 - 3 ruling that discrimination against gay or transgender employees was considered sex discrimination, prohibited by the Civil Rights Act. Protecting the plaintiff, who worked for the Juvenile Court of Clayton County, Neil Gorsuch clearly stated in the majority opinion, "An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law." PURSUING PUBLIC SERVICE – AND BECOMING ONE'S TRUE SELF This decision would come to echo on Lange, who made the decision to come out in 2017. Her calling to pursue policing came first from a desire to help animals. A er considering that her dyslexia might prohibit a veterinary career while at Auburn University, she decided that being a game warden would be a better path and studied law enforcement. A er working patrol in both Columbus and Houston County, Lange moved up the ranks to investigations and then sergeant. She said she enjoys public service: "It's certainly a rewarding feeling. You're not going to make a lot of money, but most people aren't doing it for the money." Lange said she didn't grow up around any LGBTQ+ people, which informed the time before coming out and undergoing gender affirmation. "Gender dysphoria had bothered me my whole life, but I didn't know what it was or how to go about it," she said. But during the process of coming out, Lange grew: "Over those two years, I learned to not only be proud of myself — because coming out is so scary — but because I was confident in myself. You realize all the things you take for granted." Like many forms of care for women and gender minorities in the workplace, private insurance policies can be opaque in the patchwork of services they cover. Lange called her insurer and was told gender affirmation surgery could be covered. She also had her surgeon's office call to confirm coverage. With these assurances in mind, in 2018 Lange booked a plane ticket to New York and had a surgery consultation with a date set for the operation. Not long a er, she got a letter saying insurance coverage for her surgery was denied. The denial was due to an exclusion in Lange's Anthem health plan for gender affirming care, an exclusion the provider had encouraged Houston County to remove in 2016 as part of their nondiscrimination mandate. The county commissioners voted to maintain the exclusion in November 2019, following a meeting wherein Lange explained her situation. A er consulting with a transgender legal defense and education fund, Lange said she believed she had been discriminated against, and the process began in federal court. A June 2022 order made in the U.S. Middle District of Georgia by Macon's Judge Marc Treadwell allowed Lange's case to proceed to a civil trial in a ruling believed to be the first of its kind in the South, according to Lange's attorney David Brown. By the time of oral argument, Bostock v. Clayton County had been decided by the Supreme Court, cementing that discrimination against transgender employees was illegal sex discrimination. This was a major factor in Judge Treadwell's ruling, in which he flatly OUTLAW, MERCER UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL'S LGBTQ+ ORGANIZATION, HELD THE 5TH ANNUAL TRANSGENDER LIFE AND THE LAW SEMINAR ON APRIL 14TH. THE EVENT FEATURED GUEST SPEAKERS DONNA PRICE, NICK DEVEREUX, AND TAYLOR BROWN AND ORGANIZED BY STUDENT JULIAN SANTOS. PHOTOS COURTESY OF MERCER UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL. 80 maconmagazine.com | APRIL/MAY 2023

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