The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday decided to review the Biden administration's “equal protection” challenge to Tennessee's ban on puberty blockers and transgender surgeries for minors.
The case, United States v. Skrmetti, will be argued in the term that begins in October.
It is the first time the high court will consider restrictions on puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for minors.
Tennessee is one of 22 states that has measures prohibiting this type of medical intervention for minors.
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The Supreme Court building in Washington, DC (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
A federal appeals court had allowed the law in Tennessee and Kentucky to go into effect pending the outcome of ongoing litigation.
“Tennessee adopted a law that said if you're under 18, a doctor can't give you hormone treatments, puberty blockers, or gender reassignment surgery, because of your gender. And we were sued by the Department of Justice, the ACLU and Lambda Legal,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in an interview with Fox News last month. “We won in the Sixth Circuit, and now they're trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to address that. But the bottom line is that the Court of Appeals saw that states have the authority to decide whether these treatments should be legal or not. their borders. And some states authorize them.
Elliot Page attends the premiere of “Close To You” during NewFest Pride 2024 at SVA Theater on June 1, 2024 in New York City. (Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
Among those who filed amicus briefs opposing the state law was actor Elliot Page. The Oscar-nominated star of “Juno,” “Inception” and “The Umbrella Academy” is one of 57 transgender people who came together to support the Biden administration's lawsuit.
And the administration in its high court filing says 25 states have laws that restrict or prohibit “gender-affirming health care” for transgender youth. South Carolina passed its law last week.
Republican-led states have enacted a variety of restrictions on transgender surgeries and other medical interventions for minors, arguing in court papers that states have the right to protect children's well-being against “experimental gender transition procedures” and against doctors or professionals. doctors who subject minors to “irreversible transitional treatments.”
While transgender advocates have argued that major U.S. medical and mental health professional associations support such procedures, Alabama's attorney general, for example, has argued in court papers that “radical” groups responsible for the Regulation of endocrine medicine is in deep debate” about how best to help children suffering from gender dysphoria.
Meanwhile, LGBTQ advocacy groups say denying young people transgender procedures is more dangerous.
“The future of countless transgender youth of this and future generations depends on this Court adhering to the facts, the Constitution, and its own modern precedent,” Chase Strangio., said the deputy director of Transgender Justice for the ACLU's LGBTQ and HIV Project in a statement Monday. “These bans represent a dangerous and discriminatory affront to the well-being of transgender youth nationwide and their constitutional right to equal protection under the law. They are the result of an overtly political effort to wage war on a marginalized group and our most vulnerable. fundamental freedoms.”
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“Historically, this Court has rejected efforts to uphold discriminatory laws, and without similar action here, these categorical and punitive bans on the provision of gender-affirming care will continue to wreak havoc on the lives of transgender youth and their families,” said Tara Borelli, senior attorney at Lambda Legal added. “We are grateful that transgender youth and their families will have their day in the highest court, and we will not stop fighting to ensure access to this medically necessary, life-saving care.”
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