Supreme Court considers gender-affirming care for minors

The Supreme Court will consider the rights of transgender people after the Biden administration and their families moved to block state-level bans on gender-affirming care.

Republican-led states have limited transgender healthcare, participation in school sports, use of restrooms and drag shows. A law in Tennessee bans transgender minors from access to hormone therapy and puberty blockers.

At least 24 states have barred transgender women and girls from participating in some women’s and girls’ sports, while at least 11 have barred transgender women and girls from using women’s and girls’ bathrooms in public schools.

The Biden administration and Democratic-led states have increased protections for transgender people.

The Cincinnati federal appeals court allowed Tennessee and Kentucky to enact laws after seeing blockages from lower courts, despite no separate appeal from Kentucky.

“Prohibiting citizens and lawmakers from voicing their views on high-stakes medical policy, in which compassion for the child points in both directions, is not something that federal judges should be doing for life,” the 6th ruling said Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Without this Court’s swift intervention, transgender youth and their families will remain in limbo, unsure if and where they can access needed medical care,” said attorneys advocating for teens in Tennessee.

Fifty-seven transgender people have joined the legal petition for Supreme Court review, including high-profile figures such as actor Elliot Page.

The challenging party argues that banning transgender care for minors violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees equal protection and due process. Challengers argue that the amendment violates by discriminating against individuals based on gender and their status as transgender, and by restricting parents’ access to medical care for their children.

Medical associations have noted that gender dysphoria can increase suicide rates and that long-term studies show the effectiveness of gender-affirming care.

Lawmakers who support restrictions call the treatments experimental and potentially harmful.

The Supreme Court has only ruled on LGBTQ+ issues a handful of times. In 2015, it legalized same-sex marriage nationally and in 2020 legally banned workplace discrimination against gay and transgender employees. In 2018, the court ruled in favor of a baker who refused to make a cake for a gay couple because of his Christian beliefs, and in 2023 they noted that freedom of speech allowed certain businesses to refuse service for same-sex weddings.

Arguments will take place in the fall.

Some information comes from The Associated Press and Reuters.