Corey Briskin and Nicholas Maggipinto had planned to have children for a decade, since before they were engaged. They decided to employ in vitro fertilization, in which an egg and sperm are combined in a lab. Next, they'd turn to an agency to find a surrogate who would have the fertilized egg implanted and eventually give birth to their child. But they hit a wall when Briskin took a job as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan in 2017, then found out that New York City's health plan doesn't provide IVF benefits for gay men, NBC News reports. On Thursday, Briskin and Maggipinto sued the city.
The class-action lawsuit, the first of its type, argues that the policy is discriminatory because although it provides accommodations for single women and heterosexual and lesbian couples, it doesn't cover IVF for male couples. The suit says thousands of male couples are affected, per the Washington Post. "We are entitled to equal treatment under the law," Briskin said. A City Hall spokesperson said officials will review the filing, adding that Mayor Eric Adams' administration "proudly supports the rights of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers to access the health care they need."
Briskin and Maggipinto, who are married, want the city to reimburse others who were denied the benefit and add gay men to its coverage. Briskin has left the city's employ for a private law firm. The couple hopes to have a child with a year after receiving donated embryos that are awaiting implantation in a surrogate. The filing estimates the two will pay about $100,000 for the IVF process, per NBC, and $165,000 for surrogacy. (More in vitro fertilization stories.)
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