DES MOINES, IOWA (February 13, 2019) — Today a Polk County jury delivered a win for transgender rights in Iowa. It’s historic since the lawsuit was the first transgender rights case to be filed in Iowa district court since Iowa added gender identity protections to the Iowa Civil Rights Act back in 2007.
Jesse Vroegh (pronounced Vrew), who is transgender, is a nurse formerly employed at the Iowa Department of Corrections. He filed the lawsuit after he was denied use of the men’s restrooms and locker rooms at work. He was also denied medically necessary transgender surgery coverage through his employer.
The jury ruled that the state had engaged in sex discrimination and gender identity discrimination, which is covered by both the Iowa Civil Rights Act and the Iowa Constitution.
Jesse said he is grateful for the jury’s verdict. “Being an Iowan, I want to thank a jury, made up of my fellow Iowans, for their verdict. It means a lot for them to consider the facts of the case and determine that yes, I was discriminated against. It makes me happy and proud that they recognized that I should be treated equally by my employer and with health care coverage.
“This whole lawsuit process has been difficult and emotionally very trying. My life has been put under a microscope. But I do it because it’s important for all the transgender Iowans who come after me. I want them to be treated fairly and equally.”
Melissa Hasso, ACLU of Iowa cooperating attorney with the Sherinian and Hasso Law Firm in Des Moines, made the following statement:
“This truly is a historic day for transgender Iowans, their friends and families. The Iowa Civil Rights Act was amended in 2007 to protect Iowans from employment discrimination based on gender identity. Yet Mr Vroegh’s employer, the Iowa Department of Corrections, and Warden Patti Wachtendorf, repeatedly denied his requests to use the men’s restrooms and locker rooms consistent with his gender identity.
“The jury properly found that this was illegal discrimination based on sex and gender identity under the Iowa Civil Rights Act. The jury also found that the State of Iowa’s providing a health insurance plan to state employees that explicitly excluded coverage for medically necessary gender reassignment surgery violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act’s prohibition against sex and gender identity discrimination in the provision of employee benefits.
“We would note that Mr Vroegh, who worked as a nurse at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women in Mitchellville, was fully supported by his friends and colleagues at the prison—male and female alike — throughout his transition in his efforts to fully live as the man he has always known himself to be. It is truly unfortunate that the warden and others in administration were not supportive and that he was required to litigate to enforce his civil rights.
“This case is yet another example of the State of Iowa’s continued failure to properly train supervisors and managers on Iowa’s employment discrimination laws and to enforce those laws within its own ranks. We would specifically request that Janet Phipps Burkhead, Director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services and the individual responsible for ensuring state employees are trained as to the Iowa Civil Rights Act, change her policy of making such training ‘voluntary.’
“Until the State of Iowa demonstrates a firm commitment to preventing discrimination and enforcing the state’s longstanding civil rights laws, state employees like Mr. Vroegh will continue to have no choice but to look to the courts to protect them from discrimination. This is simply unacceptable.”
Rita Bettis Austen, ACLU of Iowa Legal Director, said she is pleased that Jesse’s fellow Iowans recognized that discrimination against him was wrong. “The law in Iowa has said that employers cannot discriminate on the basis of sex for many years and for gender identity since 2007. The state should have been a model for other employers in its treatment of a transgender worker, but instead blatantly discriminated against Jesse Vroegh. The jury in this case obviously saw that what the State did was wrong and should never happen again.
“The testimony in this case shows so many ways in which the State dropped the ball. It completely failed to live up to this State’s commitment to putting an end to employment discrimination of any sort. They jury saw that clearly and decided that the state should compensate Jesse Vroegh for the harm their many mistakes caused him. I hope that they begin to take the necessary steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Bettis Austen also wanted to thank Melissa Hasso and John Knight of the ACLU LGBT Project for their extraordinary work.
Background on the lawsuit can be found at:
https://www.aclu-ia.org/en/news/aclu-iowa-files-states-first-transgender-rights-lawsuit
https://www.aclu-ia.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/web_8-25-17_vroegh_press_release__0.pdf
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The ACLU of Iowa is a private, non-partisan organization that fights to advance civil liberties for all. It is the state affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU prides itself in upholding everyone’s civil liberties, no matter who they are or what they believe. We work to assure the rights of all Iowans — from atheists to devout Christians, from labor unions to businesspeople and more — to make sure the constitutional rights of all are preserved. For more information, please go to www.aclu-ia.org.
