Philly Rep. Mark Cohen to Introduce PA’s First Transgender Rights Bill

Get a compelling long read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning — great with coffee!

Local trans activist-with-the-mostest Jordan Gwendolyn Davis reached out to let me know about a new transgender rights bill Philly Representative Mark Cohen will introduce in the House. The proposal is a four-bill package that will “address specific concerns faced by members of Pennsylvania’s transgender community involving institutional discrimination.”

Davis, who worked with Cohen’s team to get the bill ready for introduction, reminds me that, “While all LGBT rights legislation has included the transgender community, and we must applaud that, this is the first time in Pennsylvania history that policy issues specific to the transgender community has ever been introduced as legislation on the state level.”

Many of the components of the bill are based on Philly’s LGBT Equality Bill that passed last spring — something Davis also had a hand in creating. If passed, the bill would:

Allow transgender people to access transition-related care through Medicaid.

Allow transgender state employees to access transition-related care.

Provide a tax-credit for private businesses to provide transition related care.

Allow for transgender students to be in the proper gender setting in public schools.

You can learn more about the bill here. Stay tuned to G Philly for any updates.