HEALTHCARE
Probe Leads to Updated YMCA Trans Care Nationwide
Non-profi t organization applauded for swift changes after city’s Human Rights action
BY MATT TRACY
It all started with an anonymous
tip three years ago.
That’s all the New York
City Commission on Human
Rights (NYCCHR) needed to
start snooping around the YMCA
of Greater New York, which, according
to an unnamed previous
employee, offered its workers
healthcare plans that did not
cover certain medically-necessary
transgender and gender-affi rming
services.
So the team at NYCCHR rolled
up their sleeves and investigated
the family-friendly non-profi t,
known for fostering youth-focused
athletic activities, to determine
whether there was a violation of
gender identity and expression and
disability employment rights under
the city’s jurisdiction.
The YMCA, originally founded
as the Young Men’s Christian Association,
was created in the mid-
1800s and had ties to “muscular
Christianity” — a concept promoting
nationalism, Christianity, and
physical strength in the upbringing
of young men. The group fi rst
emerged in England and spread in
its earliest years to mostly white
populations in nations including
United States and Apartheid South
Africa.
Fast forward to 2020. The YMCA
has established a longstanding
reputation as a community-focused
hub where families can go
to the gym, swim, or take classes
— but it hasn’t always been fun
and games for transgender and
non-binary employees there seeking
gender-affi rming care.
NYCCHR’s key attorney on the
case, Kyle Rapiñan, told Gay City
News that the commission found
that the YMCA’s healthcare policy
did not cover certain gender-affi
rming services for trans, non-binary,
and intersex folks and those
omissions created potential disparate
impacts on those empolyees at
odds with city human rights law.
In a refreshingly rare twist,
however, the YMCA changed gears
rather quickly: Upon the fi ling
Kyle Rapiñan, a city Commission on Human Rights attorney who worked on the YMCA case.
of a complaint, the organization
reached out to the NYCCHR to
seek a resolution and immediately
expanded its healthcare plan to
cover more procedures.
“In this case, the YMCA was
quite receptive to us,” Sapna Raj,
the deputy commissioner of the
NYCCHR’s Law Enforcement Bureau,
told Gay City News. “The
YMCA wanted to be seen as a good
employer.”
The city embarked on a thorough
review of the YMCA’s healthcare
plans. Rapiñan underscored the
complicated nature of healthcare
policy, noting that some employers
offer hundreds of plans to employees
while others, like the YMCA,
only offer as few as three plans.
The organization submitted their
healthcare policies and plan information
to the NYCCHR, which then
sent lawyers digging through the
details “with a fi ne-tooth comb,”
Rapiñan said, to ensure that the
healthcare needs of trans and nonbinary
individuals were suffi ciently
covered in policies.
The city sought ways to bolster
the healthcare plans by suggesting
the removal of ambiguous policy
areas so employees would have access
to specifi c kinds of care, such
as facial feminization surgery.
In the end, the organization
POINT FOUNDATION
opted to settle with the NYCCHR
in a way that had a far-reaching
impact: Although this particular
case pertained to the YMCA of
Greater New York, the YMCA took
the improvements a step further
by changing its plans to cover all
medically-necessary procedures
and gender-affi rming care for employees
nationwide.
“We see this as an employer taking
a big step to treat employees equitably
and fairly,” Rapiñan said.
The YMCA of Greater New York
said nobody was available to speak
with Gay City News in a phone interview,
but a spokesperson sent a
written statement from the organization
acknowledging the changes
and praising NYCCHR for the collaboration.
“The YMCA of Greater New York
values all of our employees who
work each day to make the YMCA
one of the longest-standing community
institutions in the city and
across America,” the statement
said. “To ensure we fully support all
of our staff, including transgender
and gender non-conforming employees,
we are proud to announce
that our health care plans now offer
comprehensive coverage for gender
affi rming treatments, and that
these plans are accessible to all
YMCA employees nationwide. We
thank the New York City Commission
on Human Rights for working
with us to change over our plan.
Transgender and non-conforming
people are integral members of our
staff, and the YMCA will work to
ensure we are a workplace where
all feel they belong.”
Rapiñan said the years-long
case was in the works long before
the recent Supreme Court decision
clarifying that Title VII of the 1964
Civil Rights Act bans employment
discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity.
But now, with those rights enshrined
across the country — even
in Republican strongholds where
GOP leaders have sought to undercut
gender-affi rming care at every
turn — Rapiñan emphasized the
far-reaching impact that the ruling
will have on workers.
“The ruling has huge implications
for healthcare across the
country and now employers should
be on notice to cover transgender
and non-conforming people,” they
said.
Even absent the high court ruling,
the YMCA case serves as a key
example of the ways in which large
organizations can use their own
power to bring infl uential change
nationwide — even where laws do
not require it — in very much the
same way that many nationwide
retailers during the coronavirus
crisis are requiring everyone to
wear masks in their stores, even
in areas that do not have statewide
mask requirements.
When refl ecting on the YMCA
case, Rapiñan offered some important
advice to workers: Review your
employer’s healthcare policies, and
if transgender, non-binary, or intersex
individuals are not covered,
that issue should be reported to
the NYCCHR. Individuals are welcome
to fi le an anonymous report
since many folks fear retaliation
from their employer.
As for the employers, Rapiñan
said, it’s quite simple: “Do the right
thing.”
“Remove discriminatory plans
from the marketplace and treat
trans people fairly,” they added.
July 30 - August 12, 2 12 020 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
