A Georgia county is fighting a ruling requiring it to pay for a transgender deputy’s surgery
By JEFF AMY
Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia county is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling that it illegally discriminated against a sheriff’s deputy by failing to pay for her gender-affirmation surgery. But lawyers for Houston County Sgt. Anna Lange are urging a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reject the appeal. They said during a hearing in Atlanta on Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear the county’s action amounted to illegal sex discrimination. A judge ruled in favor of Lange in 2022, ordering the county to pay for the surgery, and a jury awarded her $60,000 in damages. Lange eventually underwent the procedure.