Executive Summary: On May 18, 2017, in the first decision of its kind, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held that transgender people are not categorically barred from protection by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) if they suffer from gender dysphoria. While it remains true that being transgender is not in and of itself a disability under the ADA, in ruling on the employer’s motion to dismiss in Blatt v. Cabela’s Retail, Inc., the court held that the plain language of the ADA’s exclusion of “gender identity disorders” from the definition of “disability” in 42 U.S.C. § 12211(b)(1) (“the GID exclusion”) must be read narrowly. In so doing, the court held that transgender individuals who experience gender dysphoria are protected by the ADA and, therefore, Blatt could proceed on her ADA discrimination, failure to accommodate and retaliation claims.
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