Minnesota resident Nova Bradford, 21, had a chemical dependency problem, which she wanted to get help with, so she tried to gain admission to the University of Minnesota Medical Center's Lodging Plus substance abuse treatment program.

You can recover from chemical addiction and live a fuller life. To do so, you most likely will need support or assistance. Our services include assessment, medically supervised detoxification, inpatient and outpatient evaluation and referral, inpatient-to-outpatient treatment, family counseling and aftercare. Working with us, you’ll recover physically, psychologically, interpersonally and spiritually.

As it turns out the use of the word "you" in the above was overly broad.

Nova was refused admission because she is a transgender woman. Fairview Health Services, which operates UMMC informed her that it would be inappropriate to accept her into the program because there were separate floors for male and female residents and "because they have open showers."

Gender Justice is assisting Ms. Bradford in her lawsuit against Fairview and UMMC. The suit says Bradford felt "trauma, humiliation, and duress" after receiving "a lack of care, dignity, and respect" from Fairview.

She was turned away specifically because she was transgender.

It's illegal, for one, and it's not good for anyone involved. It's not good for people not to be able to access health care.

It's a form of policing gender norms.

--Jill Gaulding, Gender Justice

When you told me about this lawsuit, I was like, well that's not surprising.

--John Azbill-Salisbury, Rainbow Health Initiative

A recent study undertaken by Rainbow Health found that last year 15% of transgender people were discriminated against in a health care setting, while 38% say they have experienced it in their lifetime.

When you treat people as people as opposed to what you perceive their gender identity, you get good health care.

I think it's very important knowing that there's these experiences of poor quality and care happening out there is to help people be prepared for them.

--Azbill-Salisbury

Ms. Bradford did find care for her problem at another facility, but the lawsuit goes forward. She is seeking $75,000 in compensation for the mistreatment.

Fairview said they would not comment on the litigation before adding the following comment:

Fairview is committed to the best treatment for all patients who come to us for care. We have policies in place to prohibit discrimination and provide respectful, dignified treatment.