继漫画专业人士和粉丝在推特上大声疾呼后，黑马漫画公司宣布将撤销将变性员工排除在某些保险范围之外的医疗保险政策。该公司于10月1日宣布，其医疗保健计划将扩大到“包括激素治疗和其他手术过渡服务”，而此前的计划并未提供这些服务。

这个问题在本月早些时候被曝光，黑马公司宣布了一个以《黑锤子》、《精灵探索》、《丈夫》等包容性漫画为特色的骄傲月大甩卖。这一宣布引发了跨喜剧评论家、播客主持人、前黑马编辑杰伊·埃迪丁（Jay Edidin）的**，他指出，黑马的医疗保险明确排除了“任何与性别焦虑症相关的保险”；这家漫画出版商作为一家自我保险公司，提供自己的保险，从而能够绕过州法律。Edidin的推特引发了对该公司的强烈反对。

在几天后发表的一份声明中，黑马公司解释说，它认真对待这些“问题”，并解释说医疗保健是复杂的。对于“一个像我们这样规模的组织，存在着复杂的、分层的财务和合规现实，这可能会限制像我们这样的小企业的覆盖选项。”简言之：黑马提供这种覆盖的成本很高。

这是一个商业计算，发出了一个可怕的信息：与其他员工相比，跨公司员工的医疗保险选项优先级较低。即使由于没有任何跨部门员工利用保险而没有提供保险，这对可能在那里寻找工作的潜在员工来说也是一个可怕的信号。该声明还招致批评，因为它说公司将“继续探索”变性员工的选择，从而回避了这一问题。正如埃迪丁指出的那样，回应缺乏任何具体的语言、时间表或对上述选项的真正承诺。

作为对这项政策的回应，漫画作家兼编辑玛丽亚·麦考特（Mariah McCourt）表示，她正在起草一封致该公司的***，并将于今天***的内容。在发布之前，黑马公司宣布将扩大其覆盖范围，并为“之前缺乏覆盖所造成的任何痛苦”道歉

麦考特将***的内容提供给了Verge：

An Open Letter to Dark Horse Comics

As concerned members of the professional comics community-- including creators, critics, retailers and publishing professionals--we are writing an open letter to Dark Horse Comics over the recent discovery that your healthcare plan does not cover necessary care for trans employees. For the full context of the discussion, please start here: https://wakelet.com/wake/ee204051-d412-4d96-9fd0-c4ff1cc8bc9a

We urge Dark Horse Comics to change its employee healthcare coverage to ensure that trans employees have the full and necessary care every human being should be entitled to, including gender-affirming care; and that you make those changes a priority to be enacted as quickly as possible with a clear timeline. Further, we ask that you acknowledge the direct impact your policy has had on your trans employees and potential employees as part of your public acknowledgement that the policy was and is wrong.

Healthcare access is a basic human need--and a significant component of your employee compensation--and denying that access based on gender identity or trans status is not only unc***cionable on its own, but a critical barrier to employment for trans comics professionals. It sends the message that Dark Horse, a leading publisher in the industry, does not prioritize the care of vulnerable employees and will discriminate against them in one of the most basic areas of our collective needs as human beings.

This kind of policy lessens comics as a creative field. If we want to claim that we support our community and the people who work within it at every level, then we must support them in our most fundamental policies. We can and should be better than a healthcare plan that rejects trans care. We must actively set an example to other industries and publishers that trans rights are human rights.

直言不讳是有效的。黑马公司正面临着一股愤怒的球迷浪潮，他们对一项从一开始就不应该实施的歧视性政策表示不满。回溯并向员工提供保险有助于出版商挽回面子，但更重要的是，它有助于提供必要的医疗保险，否则，任何当前或潜在的黑马员工都可能无法获得这些保险。

更新时间：2018年6月22日，美国东部时间下午3:30，包括麦考特致黑马的***全文。