LeQuan Edwards is 52 and transgender.

She has a problem...and it is not what bathroom to use.

That’s the dumbest thing. It’s so ridiculous. C’mon folks, let’s find another story.

--Edwards

Iowa’s Civil Rights Act expressly prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. Still, Edwards’ caregivers have been unable to find a place for her to live.

Last August, Edwards had a stroke. She went to a rehabilitation facility in Clarinda, Iowa, and arrived at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines in March with bad wounds on her legs.

She was scheduled to be discharged Tuesday. But a hospital social worker said hospital staff checked with roughly 90 nursing homes and rehab facilities and none — except one that was 2 1/2 hours away in Muscatine — would take her.

Edwards’ legs are wrapped in compresses. She has very limited use of her right arm and needs help getting to a bathroom. She also struggles with mental health issues, including bipolar and PTSD.

Her friend Brian Carter, a retired pastor, has been trying to help her. Carter says that a social worker told him that facilities which are accepting new residents say men don’t want to room with a person who is biologically male but identifies as a woman. Neither do their female residents.

And, of course, Medicaid won't pay for a private room except temporarily.

The problem is huge. I can’t tell you how many people get turned away. And in the state of Iowa, you can’t discriminate against transgender people like this. You don’t have a lot of power.

Imagine you’re in your mid-70s, you’re really sick and you’re transgender.

--Donna Red Wing, executive director of One Iowa, the statewide advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people

Last year, an intern attempted to survey 50 Iowa nursing homes and rehabilitation centers to determine whether they accepted transgender residents or if they would be willing to provide training so staff could learn how to be more welcoming to transgender residents.

The reception was very chilly. Of the 50, only three responded.

--Red Wing

If someone’s identity is female, you have to treat them as a female because that’s what they are. It’s the law that people are to be treated with dignity and respect, and it’s the right thing to do.

--Red Wing

Nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities that accept Medicaid patients are prohibited from discriminating against residents based on gender identity, according to Amy Lorentzen McCoy, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Facilities are supposed to factor in available resources, training and staff when deciding which residents they will accept. But Medicaid recipients can't always be served in their home communities, McCoy said.

Their personal care needs may require training or resources that aren’t immediately available in a nursing facility in their community that accepts Medicaid reimbursement.

She had already undergone hormone therapy before suffering the stroke and was saving what money she could to have sex reassignment surgery.

Edwards, who had previously lived in apartments, was living with her dog in her car at the time. As bad as that was, she said, it doesn’t compare to how she feels now.

I haven’t really asked for anything in this life. This is the first time,” she said. “But I am being treated like a leper. No one deserves to be treated like this.

Edwards cries and gets upset easily these days, in part because she is so worried about being moved so far from her mother.

She hoped Medicaid would help her find an efficiency apartment where she could live alone, near her mother, cook for herself and perhaps get another dog. Iowa’s newly privatized managed care system is supposed to have more flexibility in providing that kind of care, but it has to be cost-effective. Edwards' provider is United HealthCare.

Doctors have advised against my daughter living on her own.

They said they’ve taken her as far as they can, and that they don’t believe she’s going to get better than she is.

--Bobby Edwards, LeQuan's mother

Bobbi Edwards says she, too, has a litany of physical issues — including epilepsy, congestive heart failure and two kinds of arthritis. But Medicaid has managed to provide her the care she needs at home.

I got all these things wrong with me, and I still get to live on my own and go to the senior citizens center, do a little shopping. I’ve got two pets.

--Bobbi

Edwards' doctors and physical therapists say she has so many care issues that a 24-hour facility would best meet her needs.

In the meantime, Edwards' daily nursing care and meals alone can cost more than $1,000 a day, not all of which is reimbursed by Medicaid, Social Work Manager Frank Kiener said.

Dylan Woodward, a clinical social worker in Minnesota who grew up in Iowa, questioned why Edwards’ transgender status would have been made public to others and why other residents should get to decide where transgender people live.

If they cannot accommodate her, they should be required to give her a single room at the Medicaid rates and eat the loss. It should not be the patient’s problem that they cannot accommodate her for whatever reason.

--Woodward

Edwards has struggled to get around after her stroke, but last week she took several steps with assistance.