U.S. v. Skrmetti
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case concerning transgender rights today as it considers a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
Attorneys for the Biden administration and transgender youth in Tennessee are asking for the Court to declare a 2023 law that restricts medical care for transgender teens an unconstitutional form of sex discrimination under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. The law bans the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender teens under the age of 18.
Lawyers representing the state of Tennessee will argue that lawmakers were justified in restricting medical care for residents under the age of 18 when they passed their bill last year because medications like puberty blockers, which suppress puberty and its ensuing physical changes, can cause long-term issues like decreased bone density, sexual dysfunction and infertility problems.
Long-term psychological effects of gender transition treatments for transgender youth are understudied and teens are too immature to consent to such treatments, the lawmakers said.
In the bill, Republicans banned specific medical treatments used for a specific purpose, but did not ban the medications outright. Despite their stated concerns about lingering negative consequences for adolescents, lawmakers still allowed Tennessee teenagers to access these medications for issues like hormone disorders or early puberty — as long as they were not transgender.
Currently, 26 states have passed laws restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth. Gender-affirming care includes medical care to help a person transition from their gender at birth to their preferred gender.
In the map above, by the Momentum Advancement Project, the tan states restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth. Virginia does not restrict gender-affirming care.
A teen identified as “L” in court documents along with her parents, Brian and Samantha Williams, sued Tennessee in 2023 over the gender-affirming care ban. The ban forced Tennessee doctors to stop treating transgender patients with treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapies by March 2024.
The ruling threatened to disrupt her medical treatment and endanger her mental health, the suit stated. Two other Tennessee families with transgender children and a Memphis-based doctor also joined the lawsuit.
A few months after the Williams family sued, Nashville’s federal district court temporarily blocked Tennessee from enforcing the law finding the state lacked medical evidence and may have violated constitutional concerns. Months later, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, siding with Tennessee.
The Supreme Court arguments will center on the appellate ruling.
The last time the court tackled a case concerning transgender individuals was in a case from 2020 called Bostock v. Clayton County. In that matter, the Court ruled that federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in the workplace applies to gay and transgender workers since such action “necessarily” happens because of that person’s sex.
Audrey Carpenter is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief for All Virginia News. She can be reached at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news
