News | Gay New York Couple Sues City for Equal IVF Benefits
On May 9, 2024, former New York assistant district attorney Corey Briskin and his husband, Nicholas Maggipinto, filed a class-action lawsuit against New York City, Mayor Eric Adams, former mayor Bill de Blasio, and other city leaders, marking an important milestone for the reproductive rights of gay men in the United States.
Briskin and Maggipinto allege that New York City’s definition of “infertility” discriminates against gay male couples in violation of federal and state civil-rights laws. The lawsuit follows a complaint they filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2022. If successful, it could establish a legal precedent defining gay men as infertile and require employers nationwide to provide them the same fertility benefits offered to women and heterosexual couples.
Briskin began working for New York City in 2017, one year after he and Maggipinto married, and received EmblemHealth coverage through the city’s comprehensive benefits plan. When they researched family-building options, they learned that gay men were the only group excluded from IVF coverage. They did not seek reimbursement for surrogacy expenses.
The EmblemHealth policy defined infertility as failure to become pregnant after 12 months of heterosexual intercourse without contraception or after intrauterine insemination. Heterosexual, lesbian, and single female government employees could therefore qualify for infertility benefits covering IVF, while gay male couples could never qualify.
Their complaint cites the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) definition revised in October 2023, which describes infertility as a “disease, condition, or status characterized by the need for medical intervention, including the use of donor gametes, to achieve a successful pregnancy.” Under this definition, gay men and lesbians are considered infertile.
Their attorney, Peter Romer-Friedman, said that if their legal position prevails, ASRM’s inclusive definition could become the national legal standard, signaling that employers must provide these benefits or risk enforcement action.
Men Having Babies estimated that in 2023, the total cost for gay men to have a child through IVF and surrogacy ranged from $177,950 to $261,550. Briskin earned $75,000 a year as a New York assistant district attorney, while Maggipinto was a corporate lawyer carrying student-loan debt.
“There is no reasonable alternative to IVF for gay men seeking biological children,” their complaint states. “When an employer or health plan does not reimburse IVF costs, the enormous financial burden often prevents them from having biological children.”
“New York City employs more than 300,000 people who keep one of the world’s largest and most progressive cities running,” Maggipinto said. “Yet the government is deciding whether these people can have children.”
The complaint argues that the city’s position reinforces bias against gay fathers and promotes gender- and sexual-orientation-based stereotypes that gay male couples and single gay men are unfit parents while women and heterosexual men are fit parents.
Legal protections against discrimination affecting LGBTQ+ people have expanded in recent years. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bostock that Title VII protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. That year, New York law required group health plans to cover three IVF cycles, and in 2021 the state Department of Financial Services told insurers that coverage must be provided regardless of sexual orientation.
After the EEOC complaint, a City Hall spokesperson said New York City had long provided IVF treatment to employees or dependents who demonstrate infertility and that its policy treats everyone covered by the plan equally, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
“The city had many opportunities to change the policy over the past two years, but it did not and offered no explanation,” Briskin said. He moved to the private sector mainly to increase his income so the couple could complete the process. They have since funded IVF and found a surrogate, with an embryo transfer planned for that month. “Even with our combined private-sector salaries, this remains challenging.”
“This is one of today’s most important civil-rights issues,” Romer-Friedman said. “A bill changing the policy would be welcome progress, but it would not remedy past harm. Part of our goal is compensation and an apology for every family and single gay man affected by this plainly discriminatory policy.”
News | Gay New York Couple Sues City for Equal IVF Benefits
News | Gay New York Couple Sues City for Equal IVF Benefits
On May 9, 2024, former New York assistant district attorney Corey Briskin and his husband, Nicholas Maggipinto, filed a class-action lawsuit against New York City, Mayor Eric Adams, former mayor Bill de Blasio, and other city leaders, marking an important milestone for the reproductive rights of gay men in the United States.
Briskin and Maggipinto allege that New York City’s definition of “infertility” discriminates against gay male couples in violation of federal and state civil-rights laws. The lawsuit follows a complaint they filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2022. If successful, it could establish a legal precedent defining gay men as infertile and require employers nationwide to provide them the same fertility benefits offered to women and heterosexual couples.
Briskin began working for New York City in 2017, one year after he and Maggipinto married, and received EmblemHealth coverage through the city’s comprehensive benefits plan. When they researched family-building options, they learned that gay men were the only group excluded from IVF coverage. They did not seek reimbursement for surrogacy expenses.
The EmblemHealth policy defined infertility as failure to become pregnant after 12 months of heterosexual intercourse without contraception or after intrauterine insemination. Heterosexual, lesbian, and single female government employees could therefore qualify for infertility benefits covering IVF, while gay male couples could never qualify.
Their complaint cites the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) definition revised in October 2023, which describes infertility as a “disease, condition, or status characterized by the need for medical intervention, including the use of donor gametes, to achieve a successful pregnancy.” Under this definition, gay men and lesbians are considered infertile.
Their attorney, Peter Romer-Friedman, said that if their legal position prevails, ASRM’s inclusive definition could become the national legal standard, signaling that employers must provide these benefits or risk enforcement action.
Men Having Babies estimated that in 2023, the total cost for gay men to have a child through IVF and surrogacy ranged from $177,950 to $261,550. Briskin earned $75,000 a year as a New York assistant district attorney, while Maggipinto was a corporate lawyer carrying student-loan debt.
“There is no reasonable alternative to IVF for gay men seeking biological children,” their complaint states. “When an employer or health plan does not reimburse IVF costs, the enormous financial burden often prevents them from having biological children.”
“New York City employs more than 300,000 people who keep one of the world’s largest and most progressive cities running,” Maggipinto said. “Yet the government is deciding whether these people can have children.”
The complaint argues that the city’s position reinforces bias against gay fathers and promotes gender- and sexual-orientation-based stereotypes that gay male couples and single gay men are unfit parents while women and heterosexual men are fit parents.
Legal protections against discrimination affecting LGBTQ+ people have expanded in recent years. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bostock that Title VII protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. That year, New York law required group health plans to cover three IVF cycles, and in 2021 the state Department of Financial Services told insurers that coverage must be provided regardless of sexual orientation.
After the EEOC complaint, a City Hall spokesperson said New York City had long provided IVF treatment to employees or dependents who demonstrate infertility and that its policy treats everyone covered by the plan equally, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
“The city had many opportunities to change the policy over the past two years, but it did not and offered no explanation,” Briskin said. He moved to the private sector mainly to increase his income so the couple could complete the process. They have since funded IVF and found a surrogate, with an embryo transfer planned for that month. “Even with our combined private-sector salaries, this remains challenging.”
“This is one of today’s most important civil-rights issues,” Romer-Friedman said. “A bill changing the policy would be welcome progress, but it would not remedy past harm. Part of our goal is compensation and an apology for every family and single gay man affected by this plainly discriminatory policy.”
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