IDAHO — On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law restricting gender-affirming care for minors. The decision, in turn, also affirmed similar laws in more than a dozen other states, Idaho included.
Idaho's Vulnerable Child Protection Act, which passed the legislature in 2023, makes it a felony to provide anyone under 18 with gender-affirming medical care, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transition surgeries.
"No one has the right to harm children. For two years, my office defended Idaho's common-sense law that protects kids from experimental procedures with lifelong, irreversible consequences," said Attorney General Raúl Labrador in a press release. "Idaho's Vulnerable Child Protection Act recognizes that children suffering from gender dysphoria need love, support, and medical care rooted in biological reality — not life-altering drugs and surgeries."
In June 2023, two families, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, sued to block its implementation, and a federal judge halted statewide enforcement while the case moved forward.
Labrador appealed the injunction to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in April 2024 that the lower court had overstepped. The high court narrowed the injunction to apply only to the two plaintiff families, allowing Idaho to enforce the ban for all other minors across the state.
The plaintiffs have now dismissed their lawsuit entirely, which Labrador says coincides with the Supreme Court's Tennessee ruling.
The ACLU, however, said in a press release on Wednesday that Poe v. Labrador was dismissed this year because both plaintiff families moved out of the state, adding that the organization "is still advancing other lawsuits to protect trans rights, including Hecox v. Little and Robinson v. Labrador."
RELATED: Supreme Court upholds Tennessee law barring gender-affirming care for transgender minors
“We were already expecting this decision from the Supreme Court for them to allow this to be upheld, and so we’re really encouraged by the direction the court went with this opinion," said Edward Clark, with the Idaho Family Policy Center — a self-described pro-family Christian public policy organization.
Clark says Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision reinforces legislation they’ve been advocating for locally.
“We believe that this is a win really for children across America. The Supreme Court recognized that states have the authority and even the responsibility to protect children from experimental medical treatments," said Clark.
But the Supreme Court ruling doesn’t mean gender-affirming care for minors is banned across the country.
“What the court’s ruling means is that states are allowed to ban gender-affirming medical care, but it doesn’t create a ban on gender-affirming medical care," said Emily Croston, an attorney with ACLU Idaho.
Croston says this ruling doesn’t change much for Idahoans, as the Vulnerable Child Protection Act was already on the books here, but it does have an impact on trans people in our community.
“Obviously, it is a devastating result and particularly harmful for our trans communities, but we know that trans people exist, have always existed, and will continue to exist in Idaho, and we’re not going to stop fighting for their rights," added Croston.
