Penn State Health v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a petition to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the Pennsylvania Human Relation Commission’s (PHRC) definition of sex discrimination as it applies to gender diverse Pennsylvanians.

The litigation stems from two patients of Penn Health being denied gender-affirming care.

K.W. is a minor who was in the midst of receiving gender-affirming care at Penn State Health Briarcrest that was, by their family’s account, very successful treatments. When Penn State Health made the decision to end all gender-affirming care for minors, K.W. lost access to their care.

EJ Stiles was scheduled for a gender-affirming surgery at Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center that had been months in the works. Mr. Stiles had been referred to a surgeon who had operating privileges at Penn State Health St. Joseph and had followed all the necessary steps ahead of the surgery.

Just 13 hours before the scheduled surgery, the hospital informed Stiles that the surgery was cancelled because it was “against the Catholic Diocese.

While Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center at one point was a private hospital (previously St. Joseph Medical Center), it is now a public institution under the auspices of Penn State Health. Thus, the hospital’s invocation of the Catholic Diocese was a violation of the First Amendment.

In January 2025, the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a complaint with the PHRC on behalf of Stiles. In response, Penn State Health St. Joseph sued the PHRC in Commonwealth Court seeking to establish a religious exemption to the anti-discrimination protections of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and invalidate PHRC regulations that define sex discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression.

Even after PHRC dismissed the Stiles’ complaint, Penn State Health moved ahead with its lawsuit against the PHRC, seeking to invalidate PHRC’s regulations regarding sex discrimination.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania joins the Community Justice Project in litigating this case.