Brief Amici Curiae of Scholars of Law, History, Bioethics, Gender, and Sexuality in Good v. Iowa Dept of Human Resources

Abstract

Iowa Medicaid rules ban payment for gender confirming surgery even when it is medically necessary to treat gender dysphoria. Amici curiae are scholars, teachers, and legal clinicians who hold faculty positions at colleges and universities in the State of Iowa, and who have expertise in the fields of law, history, bioethics, gender, or sexuality. They submit this brief to assist the Iowa Supreme Court by providing information about the nature of discrimination against transgender people in Iowa and the United States; to provide additional current knowledge about the proper understanding of and treatment for gender dysphoria; to offer arguments beyond those made by petitioners-appellees about why the Iowa Department of Human Services Rule banning gender affirming surgeries violates the Iowa constitution; and to discuss the history of this Court’s dynamic and principled approach to Iowa’s constitutional equality guarantees.