In a cross-office, cross-practice effort, Partners Michelle Tanney, and Marie Carlisle, together with Counsel Michael Sabella and Associates Tara Turner, Ariana Dindiyal, Shade Quailey, Maya Rivera, Daphne Gokalan and Brigette Dechant, filed an amicus brief from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) in support of a challenge brought by the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) in an attempt to force the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to respond to an eight-year-old petition to include gender-affirming surgery as part of medical services available to veterans.
According to “Veterans Org. Wants Court to Prod VA on Transgender Petition,” published Jan. 29, 2024, by Law360, the VA has yet to respond to the 2016 petition, with the delayed response further adding to the emotional, physical and psychological toll already faced by veterans.