Litigation
Court cases in the project's archive about laws and policies that affect transgender and other LGBTQ+ people. Each case page links its dockets, its court documents, its opinions and any oral arguments, with the originals on CourtListener. Charts show the cases by issue, year, court and place.
Also: a finding aid to experts who testified for the side defending the laws.
114 of 664 cases match.
| Case | Court | Level | Cir. | Year | Issue / type | Outcome | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson v. Fresh Mark, Inc. | 6th Cir. | Circuit | 6th Cir. | 2004 | Employmentalso Bathrooms & facilities | Adverse | 3 |
| Karen Frances ULANE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. EASTERN AIRLINES, INC., a Delaware Corporation, Defendant-Appellant | 7th Cir. | Circuit | 7th Cir. | 1984 | Employment | Adverse | 2 |
| Kastl v. Maricopa County Community College District | 9th Cir. | Circuit | 9th Cir. | 2009 | Employmentalso Schools & education, Bathrooms & facilities | Adverse | 2 |
| Ketcham v. Regence BlueCross BlueShield of OregonNo. 19CV31838 · Closed · Oregon | Multnomah County Circuit Court | State | 2019 | Gender-affirming carealso Employment, Health coverage & benefits | 1 | ||
| Kimberly Polk v. Montgomery County Public Schools | 4th Cir. | Circuit | 4th Cir. | 2026 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Schools & education, Employment | Favorable | 10 |
| Lawrence v. OPMClosed · Florida | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | Federal agency | 2016 | Gender-affirming carealso Employment, Health coverage & benefits | 2 | ||
| Lewis v. High Point Regional Health System | E.D.N.C. | District | 4th Cir. | 2015 | Employment | Mostly favorable | 2 |
| Lonnie Billard v. Charlotte Catholic High School | 4th Cir. | Circuit | 4th Cir. | 2024 | Employmentalso Speech & religious objections | 1 | |
| Lopez v. River Oaks Imaging & Diagnostic Group, Inc. | S.D. Tex. | District | 5th Cir. | 2008 | Employment | Favorable | 4 |
| Manchester v. Town of LudlowNo. 25-1502 | 1st Cir. | Circuit | 1st Cir. | 2025 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Schools & education, Employment | 6 | |
| Manning v. OPMClosed | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (federal sector) | Federal agency | 2021 | Gender-affirming carealso Employment, Health coverage & benefits | 1 | ||
| Marc Andrew Mario v. P & C Food Markets, Inc. | 2nd Cir. | Circuit | 2nd Cir. | 2002 | Gender-affirming carealso Employment, Health coverage & benefits | Adverse | 1 |
| Marissa Darlingh v. Adria Maddaleni | 7th Cir. | Circuit | 7th Cir. | 2025 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Schools & education, Employment | Favorable | 2 |
| Maxwell Kadel v. Dale FolwellNo. 22-1721 | 4th Cir. | Circuit | 4th Cir. | 2022 | Gender-affirming carealso Employment, Health coverage & benefits | Favorable | 141 |
| Maxwell Kadel v. N.C. State Health Plan | 4th Cir. | Circuit | 4th Cir. | 2021 | Gender-affirming carealso Employment, Health coverage & benefits | Favorable | 1 |
| McCord v. South Madison Community School Corporation | S.D. Ind. | District | 7th Cir. | 2023 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Schools & education, Employment | 2 | |
| McCrory v. United States of America | E.D.N.C. | District | 4th Cir. | 2016 | Bathrooms & facilitiesalso Employment, Federal executive actions | 16 | |
| McMahon v. World Vision Inc. | 9th Cir. | Circuit | 9th Cir. | 2024 | Employmentalso Speech & religious objections | 1 | |
| Melissa Batie-Smoose v. The Board of Trustees of the California State UniversityNo. 2:25-cv-08957 | C.D. Cal. | District | 9th Cir. | 2025 | Employmentalso Athletics | 3 | |
| Michelle Fitzgerald v. Roncalli High School, Inc. | 7th Cir. | Circuit | 7th Cir. | 2023 | Employmentalso Speech & religious objections | 1 | |
| Miller v. Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota | D. Minn. | District | 8th Cir. | 2019 | Employment | 67 | |
| Musgrove v. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia | M.D. Ga. | District | 11th Cir. | 2018 | Gender-affirming carealso Employment, Health coverage & benefits | 2 | |
| Navarrete v. Whole Foods | D.D.C. | District | D.C. Cir. | 2025 | Employment | Adverse | 4 |
| Nicholas Meriwether v. Francesca Hartop | 6th Cir. | Circuit | 6th Cir. | 2020 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Schools & education, Employment | Adverse | 17 |
| Nicole Wittmer v. Phillips 66 Company | 5th Cir. | Circuit | 5th Cir. | 2019 | Employment | Adverse | 3 |
| Olivarez v. T-Mobile USA | 5th Cir. | Circuit | 5th Cir. | 2021 | Employment | Adverse | 1 |
| Parker v. Strawser Constr., Inc. | S.D. Ohio | District | 6th Cir. | 2018 | Employment | Mostly favorable | 1 |
| Peter Vlaming v. West Point School BoardNo. 211061 · Closed · Virginia | 4th Cir. | Circuit | 4th Cir. | 2019 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Schools & education, Employment | Procedural no direction | 7 |
| Philecia Barnes v. City of Cincinnati | 6th Cir. | Circuit | 6th Cir. | 2005 | Employment | Favorable | 7 |
| Powell v. Read's, Inc. | D. Md. | District | 4th Cir. | 1977 | Employment | Adverse | 1 |
| Pritchard, et al. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of IllinoisNo. 23-4331 | 9th Cir. | Circuit | 9th Cir. | 2025 | Gender-affirming carealso Employment, Health coverage & benefits, Speech & religious objections | Mixed | 20 |
| Rachel Damiano v. Grants Pass School District No. 7 | 9th Cir. | Circuit | 9th Cir. | 2023 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Schools & education, Employment | 18 | |
| Radtke v. Miscellaneous Drivers & Helpers Union Local 638 Health, Welfare, Eye & Dental Fund | D. Minn. | District | 8th Cir. | 2012 | Health coverage & benefitsalso Employment, Identity documents, Family & parental rights | Favorable | 5 |
| Raegan Kelly Kirkpatrick v. Seligman & Latz, Inc. And Associated Dry Goods Corporation, D/B/A Robinson's Florida | 5th Cir. | Circuit | 5th Cir. | 1981 | Employment | Adverse | 3 |
| Ramona HOLLOWAY, Appellant, v. ARTHUR ANDERSEN AND COMPANY, Appellee | 9th Cir. | Circuit | 9th Cir. | 1977 | Employment | Adverse | 1 |
| Reed v. South Bend Nights, Inc. | E.D. Mich. | District | 6th Cir. | 2015 | Employment | Procedural no direction | 2 |
| Rhea v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. | W.D. Tenn. | District | 6th Cir. | 2005 | Employment | Mostly favorable | 4 |
| Roberts v. Clark County School District | D. Nev. | District | 9th Cir. | 2017 | Employmentalso Bathrooms & facilities | Favorable | 29 |
| Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish v. Dana Nessel | 6th Cir. | Circuit | 6th Cir. | 2023 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Employment, Public accommodations | 1 | |
| Schroer v. Billington | D.D.C. | District | D.C. Cir. | 2009 | Employment | Favorable | 185 |
| Smith v. City of Salem, Ohio | 6th Cir. | Circuit | 6th Cir. | 2004 | Employment | Favorable | 3 |
| Sommers v. Budget Marketing, Inc. | 8th Cir. | Circuit | 8th Cir. | 1982 | Employmentalso Bathrooms & facilities | Adverse | 1 |
| St. Joseph Parish St. Johns v. Dana Nessel | 6th Cir. | Circuit | 6th Cir. | 2024 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Schools & education, Employment, Public accommodations | Mixed | 10 |
| State of Texas v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | N.D. Tex. | District | 5th Cir. | 2022 | Employmentalso Gender-affirming care, Bathrooms & facilities, Federal executive actions | Adverse | 23 |
| Terry Sanders v. May Department Stores Company | 8th Cir. | Circuit | 8th Cir. | 2003 | Employment | Adverse | 1 |
| Terry Sanders v. May Dept. Store Co. | 8th Cir. | Circuit | 8th Cir. | 2003 | Employment | Adverse | 1 |
| The Religious Sisters of Mercy v. Xavier Becerra | 8th Cir. | Circuit | 8th Cir. | 2023 | Speech & religious objectionsalso Gender-affirming care, Employment, Health coverage & benefits | Adverse | 6 |
| Toomey v. Arizona, State of | D. Ariz. | District | 9th Cir. | 2020 | Gender-affirming carealso Employment, Health coverage & benefits | 255 | |
| Torres v. National Precision Blanking | N.D. Ill. | District | 7th Cir. | 1996 | Employment | Procedural no direction | 1 |
| U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. IXL Learning, Inc | N.D. Cal. | District | 9th Cir. | Employment | 12 |
Each case has one main issue and may raise others (shown as “also”); the Issue filter finds a case by either. Choose a column heading to sort by it, and again to reverse the order. A blank cell means the archive has no entry for that case yet.
The outcome is this project's own coding of how a case turned out, made from the court's record; it is not the court's finding. How it is coded, and how to ask for a correction, is on the About page.
Litigation
Court cases about transgender and other LGBTQ+ people · federal & state courts
Cases tracked
| Case | Court | Level | Cir. | Year | Issue / type | Outcome | Docs |
|---|
Archive stats
Cases by issue
Every tracked case once, under its main issue, split by the coded direction of its final ruling (the same reading as "Reached a final ruling" below): favorable or adverse to the LGBTQ-rights claim, or mixed. The empty part of each bar is cases with no coded ruling at the trial, circuit or Supreme Court stage yet, which is most of them; it is not a claim that they have no outcome. Choose a bar to list its cases.
Reached a final ruling
The coded direction at the HIGHEST stage a case reached — trial-level, circuit-court or Supreme Court only. A preliminary-injunction ruling never counts as final, and a "procedural, no direction" or "unclear" coding is excluded rather than shown as an outcome.
Case duration
Filed to terminated, from real CourtListener docket dates, among cases where EVERY tracked docket has terminated (an open appellate docket alongside a closed district one is pending, not resolved). No stage-by-stage date exists in this corpus, so only this one span is shown; dates cover only the tracked-docket tier — see the coverage note below the numbers.
Cases by circuit
A real geographic map, states shaded by their circuit's case count relative to the busiest circuit (linear). The Federal Circuit has no state territory of its own (its jurisdiction is subject matter, not geography) and so never paints here, but still appears in the list and the table. Select a circuit below for its final-ruling mix.