With gay marriage now being approved across the country, equal access to health care for LGBT patients has become a new civil rights frontier. This year Colorado became one of 4 states (along with the District of Columbia) to bar unequal care for transgender patients. While covering issues related to LGBT health care, I learned that a teenager had filed a civil rights complaint against one of the biggest insurance companies in our state, Kaiser Permanente. I found the young man, spent time with him and his family and he agreed to share his journey to fight for care with me. Health access is critical to transgender people like Alex Manigault. But for years, most insurance policies have specifically excluded coverage for transgender patients. Alex settled his case with Kaiser Permanente and ultimately allowed me to photograph him and chronicle his story. The opportunity to share a teenager’s journey as he transitioned from female to male made for a remarkable story and Alex’s decision to humanize the issue may have influenced policy makers and insurance executives. By year’s end, every health insurance carrier in Colorado had pledged to provide equal care to transgender patients. Other states are likely to follow suit as the Affordable Care Act requires equal care for LGBT patients.
