On August 3, 2026, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the law firm Correia & Puth filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of five federal workers against the Office of Personnel Management in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The pseudonymous plaintiffs are four transgender or non-binary federal employees and one employee whose daughter is transgender. The suit challenges OPM carrier letters that, beginning in January 2026, barred coverage of gender-affirming care under the Federal Employees Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits programs. OPM initially allowed an exception for people “mid-treatment”; a later letter eliminates that exception beginning in 2027.
The complaint argues the exclusion is sex discrimination barred by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, relying on the Supreme Court's 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that discrimination against transgender workers is discrimination because of sex. It says the same hormones and procedures remain covered for other conditions, and calls the exclusion “akin to denying continuing insulin treatment for someone with diabetes.” The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates that at least 39,400 current and former federal employees and their dependents are affected.
OPM's move implemented Trump's Day 1 executive order on “gender ideology.” Human Rights Campaign Foundation President Kelley Robinson said, “Our message to the Trump administration is simple: We'll see you in court.” OPM did not respond to Government Executive's request for comment (see Federal Judge Voids RFK's Trans Care Ban as 'Unlawful,' Calls HHS Argument 'a Bald-Faced Lie' to the Court).
Correction (October 2, 2026): The entry described the Williams Institute figure as “roughly” 39,400; the institute's estimate is “at least” 39,400. It also said the Day 1 order “directed agencies to stop funding or facilitating gender-affirming care,” which the cited reporting does not say; the entry now says only that OPM's policy implemented that order. It now notes the mid-treatment exception that runs through 2026 and that the plaintiffs are also represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, per The Hill.