Supreme Court to consider challenge to Tennessee law challenging gender affirmation cases for minors

Washington Blade, courtesy of the National LGBT Media Association

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider a challenge to a Tennessee law that prohibits health care providers from offering gender-affirming care to transgender minors.

Tennessee lawmakers approved the law in 2023.

A federal judge in Nashville issued a temporary injunction against parts of the law before it takes effect July 1, 2023. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last September rejected a request to blocking of the law which the Justice Department also challenged.

“The future of countless transgender young people of this and future generations rests on this court’s respect for the facts, the Constitution and its own modern precedent,” said Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the Project LGBTQ and HIV from the American Civil Liberties Union. , Monday in a press release. “These bans represent a dangerous and discriminatory affront to the well-being of transgender youth across the country 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 fundamental freedoms.

“We want transgender people and their families across the country to know that we will spare no effort to defend you and your loved ones and your right to decide whether or not to get this medical care,” Strangio added.

The Associated Press reported that Tennessee is among more than two dozen states that have enacted laws that restrict or ban gender-affirming care for trans minors.

The ACLU notes that the Supreme Court “is not expected to hear arguments” in the case until the fall.

The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 historic publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400,000 in print and more than 1 million online. Learn more here: associationnationallgbtmediaassociation.com