Skyler Jay from 'Queer Eye' is suing his employer for anti-trans discrimination

"Getting my top surgery has been the most important thing in my life for years, and I never would of predicted that my body would have such a horrible reaction to all the drugs I was put on to have the surgery."

Skylar Jay

Source: GoFundMe

Skyler Jay, the trans man who featured on the second season of Netflix’s Queer Eye, has filed a lawsuit against the University System of Georgia (USG).

According to the , Jay, a former USG employee, is claiming the university's healthcare guidelines were discriminatory against him and other trans members of staff.

In the complaint, Jay’s attorneys wrote: “The fact that transgender employees are not able to access medically necessary care while non-transgender employees have their medically necessary care covered evidences a disparate impact on a protected class.”
Jay claims that he was denied reimbursement for surgery done in May 2017 to treat his gender dysphoria, adding that his appeal was rejected because the health insurance plan was “self-insured and had 'no flexibility' to override the plan exclusion.”

Jay has now created a page to assist with growing medical and legal costs.

"Getting my top surgery has been the most important thing in my life for years, and I never would of predicted that my body would have such a horrible reaction to all the drugs I was put on to have the surgery," Jay wrote.
He continued: "During my healing process I have also been dealing with trying to get insurance coverage for my necessary care and surgeries. My current job has Transgender specific exclusions when it comes to Trans healthcare access, which is part of what got me into the situation of needing help in the first place."

"I am currently bringing a case against the University System of Georgia to have these exclusions removed for all of the public colleges and universities in the state under the USG system," Jay wrote.

"This is another unforeseen financial cost I have carried this last year."


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Published 26 July 2018 9:10am
Updated 26 July 2018 11:06am
By Samuel Leighton-Dore


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