Timmer & Judkins client Asher Brown, a mental health counselor, recently filed with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission a civil rights complaint alleging gender identity harassment and discrimination against St. Luke’s in Cedar Rapids. Brown, who is represented by T&J attorneys Katie Ervin Carlson and Whitney Judkins, recently spoke with the Cedar Rapids Gazette about his efforts to help the transgender community and the harassment he has endured at St. Luke’s.
Asher Brown sought a job as a mental health counselor for teens, hoping his experiences as a transgender adult would help him guide trans youth going through similar challenges.
But when he started working in the UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital inpatient psychiatric unit for adolescents in Cedar Rapids, Brown found co-workers didn’t understand or respect gender non-conformity and made fun of trans patients, he reported in a Dec. 11 complaint to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.Erin Jordan, St. Luke’s Counselor Says in Complaint He and Trans Patients Harassed by Staff, The Gazette (Jan. 20, 2021).
