A Georgia county asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to overturn a ruling that it illegally discriminated against a sheriff's deputy by failing to pay for her gender-affirmation surgery.

But lawyers for Houston County Sgt. Anna Lange urged a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reject the appeal. They said during a hearing in Atlanta that the U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that denying Lange insurance coverage for the procedure is illegal sex discrimination.