Arizona to Cover Gender-Transition Surgery for State Employees under Governor’s New Executive Order

Arizona governor Katie Hobbs issued executive orders on Tuesday to guarantee transgender state employees access to gender-transition surgery to prohibit the use of state funding to support or promote so-called “conversion therapy.”

Hobbs’s order on gender-transition surgery changes existing policy that prohibited the state’s health plan from covering the surgeries.

The new policy comes after University of Arizona professor Russell Toomey, a biological woman who identifies as a man, sued the state after being denied coverage for a hysterectomy. The lawsuit is still working its way through the courts but has cost Arizona more than $1 million in legal fees. In response to the new order, ACLU attorneys representing Toomey said they will file a motion to settle the case.