June 23, 2020

Supreme Court Ruling on LGBTQ+ Rights

rainbow flag waved at Pride parade

June is Pride Month, a time to honor and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. A lot has changed in the 51 years since the Stonewall uprising. Many LGBTQ+ individuals feel safer and more empowered to be their authentic selves and companies, brands and leaders have publicly supported the LGBTQ+ community and LGBTQ+ causes, and assisted reproductive technology has advanced allowing LGBTQ+ individuals and couples the ability to build their families. But, there is still a ways to go on the road to true equality. And this month, the Supreme Court created another milestone ensuring LGBTQ+ individuals have basic protections and rights.

The Supreme Court’s historic ruling

On Monday, June 15, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling for the LGBTQ+ community. They ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bans workplace discrimination based on race, sex, and religion, also applies to sexual orientation. Before this ruling, it was legal in the vast majority of states to fire employees for being gay, bisexual, or transgender.

This historic decision is a huge victory for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. It furthers the need for all employers to reexamine policies and systems to ensure anti-discrimination and support diversity and inclusion.

Ensuring equality in the workplace

While this ruling is significant, there is more work to be done to support a diverse and inclusive workplace. This includes creating safe environments; establishing policies and procedures for fostering inclusion; providing space for education and resource groups; and examining employee benefits. As a fertility and family building benefits provider, we have often seen that despite good intentions, benefits fall short.

For example, conventional fertility and family building benefits — things like IUI, IVF, egg freezing, coverage for donor tissue ⁠— often require a diagnosis of infertility in order to access treatment. An infertility diagnosis is defined as 6-12 months (depending on age) of heterosexual sex without a successful pregnancy. This by default discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community and single parents by choice. Even though employees are paying the same premiums, they can’t access the same coverage as their heterosexual coworkers.

The Progyny benefit eliminates those barriers to care. Any member (regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or partnership status) has access our robust family building benefit. We believe anyone who wants to be a parent should be able to achieve that dream. Members, along with their doctors, can choose the path that best fits their needs (while not breaking the bank!). They have access to dedicated support and a network that is specifically screened and trained to support all paths to parenthood. We provide a solution for the inequitable healthcare benefits currently in place.

Is your fertility and family building benefit truly benefit inclusive?

Often, these specific requirements can be hidden in the fine print of plan language. How do you know if your fertility and family building benefit is truly inclusive? What should you pay attention to when reexamining your fertility and family building benefits? We created a checklist to help you evaluate your current plan or critically analyze your benefit choices.

We are proud to provide an inclusive family building benefit that supports and celebrates all kinds of families.

Happy Pride!

Progyny Resources:

Explore the resources below to ensure your benefits are equitable and supporting all employees. From offering emotional support to exploring how to start having these conversations in your workplace, we are here to help.

 

Equitable Fertility and Family Building Checklist

Webinar: LGBTQ+ Family Building Options


Webinar: Understanding LGBTQ+ Family Building & Benefit Trends

LGBTQ+ Family Building Education

This is Infertility Podcast: LGBTQ+ Family Building Episodes