Alito, J., dissenting
Such claims present difficult religious liberty issues because some employers and healthcare providers have strong religious objections to sex reassignment procedures, and therefore requiring them to pay for or to perform these procedures will have a severe impact on their ability to honor their deeply held religious beliefs.
Freedom of speech. The Court’s decision may even affect the way employers address their employees and the way teachers and school officials address students. Under established English usage, two sets of sex-specific singular personal pronouns are used to refer to someone in the third person (he, him, and his for males; she, her, and hers for females). But several different sets of gender-neutral pronouns have now been created and are preferred by some individuals who do not identify as falling into either of the two traditional categories.[1] Some jurisdictions, such as
- ↑ See, e.g., University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Plus (LGBTQ+) Resource Center, Gender Pronouns (2020), https://uwm.edu/lgbtrc/support/gender-pronouns/ (listing six new categories of pronouns: (f )ae, (f )aer, (f )aers; e/ey, em, eir, eirs; per, pers;
claims of discrimination under ACA, Title IX, and Equal Protection Clause); Tovar v. Essentia Health, 342 F. Supp. 3d 947, 952–954 (D Minn. 2018) (allowing ACA claim).
Section 1557 of the ACA, 42 U. S. C. §18116, provides:
“Except as otherwise provided for in this title (or an amendment made by this title), an individual shall not, on the ground prohibited under title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U. S. C. 2000d et seq.), title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U. S. C. 1681 et seq.), the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U. S. C. 6101 et seq.), or section 794 of title 29, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under, any health program or activity, any part of which is receiving Federal financial assistance, including credits, subsidies, or contracts of insurance, or under any program or activity that is administered by an Executive Agency or any entity established under this title (or amendments). The enforcement mechanisms provided for and available under such title VI, title IX, section 794, or such Age Discrimination Act shall apply for purposes of violations of this subsection.” (Footnote omitted.)
