Jersey City will become the first municipality in the Garden State to offer transgender-specific health care to city employees.
The announcement was made by Mayor Steven Fulop in a press conference Tuesday afternoon. The city’s health-care plan will be expanded to include coverage for transgender medical care and procedures, including gender-reassignment surgery.
“Government has a responsibility to be a legitimizing force, to pull people in the direction of what is right, especially on LGBT issues” Fulop said in a statement Tuesday. “Today, we’re doing that in Jersey City: We’re making sure that our transgender neighbors get the care they need.”
Outgoing Garden State Equality executive director Andrea Bowen welcomed the news.
“Jersey City is doing what every municipality in New Jersey must do: provide medically necessary transition-related care to its employees,” Bowen said. “Jersey City is leading the way in showing how to improve the lives of transgender people, and Garden State Equality is honored to have worked with Mayor Fulop and his staff on this great reform.”
Jersey City was the only city in the state to have received a perfect score from the Human Rights Campaign for the past two years.
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