Tenn. ban on gender-affirming care for minors can proceed, federal court rules
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A Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors will go into effect after a U.S. appeals court ruling Saturday — the first instance of a federal court allowing a ban of this kind to proceed after similar laws were blocked in other states. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The 2-1 ruling from the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower district court’s injunction that paused the Tennessee law. The new ruling is still only temporary, as the appeals court has to conduct a full review of the case, which the judges said would be completed by Sept. 30.
Tennessee’s law prohibits medical providers from offering gender-affirming care and requires transgender youths currently receiving such treatment to end that care by March 31, 2024.
“The case is far from over, but this is a big win,” said Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti (R) in an emailed statement to The Washington Post. “The court of appeals lifted the injunction, meaning the law can be fully enforced, and recognized that Tennessee is likely to win the constitutional argument and the case.”
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The victory for opponents of gender-affirming care for minors comes after courts have unanimously blocked similar bans in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Indiana and Kentucky, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement Saturday.
“This ruling is beyond disappointing and a heartbreaking development for thousands of transgender youths, their doctors, and their families,” the ACLU and other legal advocates wrote in a joint statement. “As we and our clients consider our next steps, we want all the transgender youths of Tennessee to know this fight is far from over and we will continue to challenge this law until it is permanently defeated and Tennessee is made a safer place to raise every family.”
Last month, a federal judge struck down an Arkansas law banning gender-affirming care for transgender youths, saying it violated the rights of doctors and discriminated against transgender people, The Post reported. Days later, federal courts temporarily halted similar statewide restrictions in Kentucky and Tennessee.
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In Tennessee’s case, the lower district court had concluded that the state’s law was unconstitutional due to its discrimination on the basis of sex. But the federal appeals court majority ruled Saturday that the matter should be left to the state legislature.
“If the injunction remains in place during the appeal, Tennessee will suffer irreparable harm from its inability to enforce the will of its legislature,” wrote Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton. “Life-tenured federal judges should be wary of removing a vexing and novel topic of medical debate from the ebbs and flows of democracy by construing a largely unamendable federal constitution to occupy the field.”
Sutton was joined in his opinion by Judge Amul Thapar, who was appointed by former president Donald Trump. Judge Helene N. White, who like Sutton was appointed by former president George W. Bush, agreed that the statewide injunction was an overstep, but wrote that the Tennessee law was “likely unconstitutional” because it discriminates on the basis of sex.
“I fail to see how the state can justify denying hormone therapies for treatment of minor Plaintiffs’ gender dysphoria while permitting access to others, especially in light of the district court’s robust factual findings on the benefits of these treatments for transgender youths,” White wrote.
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Source: The Washington Post
