Evan Michael Minton is a 35-year-old former state Capitol legislative aide who sought a hysterectomy as part of his transition from female to male.
Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael canceled Minton’s surgery last summer, one day before it was scheduled to take place. The procedure was later performed at a different hospital.
Minton claims the cancellation at Mercy “devastated me, and I don’t want it to affect my transgender brothers and sisters the way it affected me. No one should have to go through that.”
The case will pit California’s non-discrimination law on sexual orientation against a Catholic hospital’s freedom of religious expression.
The plaintiffs allege that the hospital and its network violated California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation and other criteria.
