The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday as advocates for transgender youth try to overturn a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and hormones in some instances.
The court's six conservative justices seemingly were unmoved by arguments to overturn the law on Wednesday, but a final ruling will not come for several months.
In 2023, a federal appeals court allowed Tennessee to enforce the law that bans certain types of medical care for transgender minors with diagnosed gender dysphoria. The state of Tennessee says the law, which passed by a 77-16 margin in the House and 26-6 in the Senate, bans hormone treatment for gender dysphoric or gender incongruent prepubertal minors.
“The people of Tennessee, through their elected representatives, took measured action with Senate Bill 1 to protect kids from irreversible, unproven medical procedures,” said Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. “Lawmakers recognized that there is little to no credible evidence to justify the serious risks these procedures present to youth and joined a growing number of European countries in restricting their use on minors with gender-identity issues.”
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But the ACLU and Biden's Department of Justice disagreed. The Department of Justice said that "by denying only transgender youth access to these forms of medically necessary care while allowing non-transgender minors access to the same or similar procedures, SB 1 discriminates against transgender youth."
The Tennessee law allows doctors to provide such treatment in cases of congenital defects, a minor's disease or physical injury. The Biden Justice Department says this exception means that transgender youth are being unlawfully discriminated against based on their sex and transgender status. The Justice Department and ACLU say Senate Bill 1 violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
“No person should be denied access to necessary medical care just because of their transgender status,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The right to consider your health and medically-approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right that everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety and suicide."
The implications of this case reach far beyond Tennessee. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 26 states have laws stopping doctors from providing some types of gender-affirming care. If the Tennessee law is overturned, similar laws in other states would likely be impacted.
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As the Justices heard arguments, demonstrators for and against Tennessee’s law assembled outside the Court.
On one side, Tennessee officials as well as others with the right-wing educational advocacy group “Moms for Liberty” spoke out about the need to “protect” transgender children from the supposed “harms” of gender-affirming care. A small group of demonstrators opposed to such treatments held signs that read “Stop the Harm” and “Let Kids Grow.”
Nearby, however, was a significantly larger - and louder - group of demonstrators there to show support for transgender youth, dancing with transgender pride flags and collapsible fans. Among those addressing the group were the actor and transgender activist Elliot Page, as well as “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestant and Broadway performer Peppermint.
Present in that crowd were Dorothy Valakos and Scott Larson, parents to a transgender 19-year-old in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Decisions about transitioning need to be individual, and they need to be evidence-based, and that means families in conversations with psychologists, endocrinologists, pediatrics, psychiatrist - not legislators,” Valakos told Scripps News. “No one imposed any kind of decisions on us or our child, no one pushed us in one way or another to make a decision.”
Though the two live in a state where gender-affirming care is not currently threatened, they nonetheless expressed fear about what might happen to their family should the Court rule in Tennessee’s favor.
“The suicide rate of trans kids who do not get gender-affirming care is proof that it saves lives,” Larson argued. “The message that these laws gives to me as a parent is that your child is better off dead. I disagree with that, and no justice, no politician has the right to say that.”
What are puberty blockers?
According to the Mayo Clinic, puberty blockers are used to essentially pause the onset of puberty. For those born with male anatomy, puberty blockers would slow the growth of genitals and facial hair. For those with female anatomy, puberty blockers would limit or stop breast development and menstruation.
The Mayo Clinic says that these pauses are not permanent, and would resume when the medicine is stopped. It says a puberty blocker "offers a chance to explore gender identity. It also gives youth and their families time to plan for the psychological, medical, developmental, social and legal issues that may lie ahead."
