the cac mamba
Veteran
yep. guy could roll out a bill that perfectly paid for universal healthcare, and people would just laugh at the fact that his doctor will still tell him to get a prostate exam when he turns 50
Democrats and Trans Rights
- Thread starter the next guy
- Start date
Supreme Court upholds Tennessee ban on transgender youth medical care
The ruling is a major setback for transgender rights, with more than 20 states enacting laws similar to that of Tennessee.
www.nbcnews.com
Supreme Court upholds Tennessee ban on transgender youth medical care
Summarize
The ruling is a major setback for transgender rights, with more than 20 states enacting laws similar to that of Tennessee.
June 18, 2025, 10:15 AM EDT / Updated June 18, 2025, 10:22 AM EDT
A transgender rights supporter protests outside of the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law restricting gender transition care for minors, delivering a major blow to transgender rights.
The 6-3 ruling is likely to have a broad impact as 24 other states have already enacted laws similar to the one in Tennessee, which bars gender transition surgery, puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
The court was divided on ideological lines, with the six conservatives in the majority and the three liberals in dissent.
Those laws now look set to survive similar legal challenges. The ruling does not affect states that do not have such bans, meaning care in those states will still be available.
The court in an opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that the Tennessee law does not constitute a form of sex discrimination that would violate the Constitution's 14th Amendment.
"This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field," Roberts wrote. "The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound."
"The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements," he added.
Trans rights activists have also warned that a ruling allowing bans on care for trans minors could pave the way for similar restrictions aimed at adults.
The legal challenge was brought by the administration of former President Joe Biden, as well as transgender teens and their families.
The ruling does not definitely resolve all legal issues relating to the state bans as it did not address a separate argument under the 14th Amendment that the laws violate the right of parents to make health care decisions for their children.
Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump has set about unwinding Biden policies that sought to bolster transgender rights. Among other things, he signed an executive order seeking to restrict gender-affirming care for teens nationwide. A judge quickly blocked it.
Trump has also imposed new restrictions on transgender people serving in the military.
Enacted in 2023, the Tennessee law is among a wave of similar measures taken by states imposing restrictions on gender transition treatments. In defending its ban, the state's lawyers pointed to similar measures taken in other countries, including in Europe.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti emphasized in court papers the evolving debate over how best to treat minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the clinical term given to the distress people can experience when their gender identities are in conflict with the genders assigned to them at birth.
Major medical organizations say gender-affirming treatments are an effective way to treat gender dysphoria.
The challengers argued that the law is a form of sex discrimination that violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause because the treatments at issue in the case — puberty blockers and hormone therapy — can be used in other situations.
The case marks the most significant ruling on transgender rights since the court in 2020, to the surprise of many, ruled that federal employment protections extend to gender identity as well as sexual orientation.
The dispute reached the Supreme Court after the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2023 rejected challenges to the Tennessee law and a similar measure in Kentucky.
Supreme Court OKs Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors, big loss for transgender rights
The Supreme Court has upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a stunning setback to transgender rights.
apnews.com
Supreme Court OKs Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors, big loss for transgender rights
The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a stunning setback to transgender rights.
The justices’ 6-3 decision in a case from Tennessee effectively protects from legal challenges many efforts by President Donald Trump’s Republican administration and state governments to roll back protections for transgender people. Another 26 states have laws similar to the one in Tennessee.
The decision comes amid a range of other federal and state efforts to regulate the lives of transgender people, including which sports competitions they can join and which bathrooms they can use. In April, President Donald Trump’s administration sued Maine for not complying with the government’s push to ban transgender athletes in girls sports.
The Republican president also has sought to block federal spending on gender-affirming medical care for those under age 19 — instead promoting talk therapy only to treat young transgender people. In addition, the Supreme Court has allowed him to kick transgender service members out of the military, even as court battles continue. The president also signed another order to define the sexes as only male and female.
Trump’s administration has also called for using only therapy, not broader health measures, to treat transgender youths.
Related Stories
The justices acted a month after the United Kingdom’s top court delivered a setback to transgender rights, ruling unanimously that the U.K. Equality Act means trans women can be excluded from some groups and single-sex spaces, such as changing rooms, homeless shelters, swimming areas and medical or counseling services provided only to women.
Five years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that transgender people, as well as gay and lesbian people, are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. That decision is not affected by Wednesday’s ruling.
But the justices on Wednesday declined to apply the same sort of analysis the court used in 2020 when it found that “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers’ decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate.
There are about 300,000 people between the ages of 13 and 17 and 1.3 million adults who identify as transgender in the United States, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. The Williams Institute is a think tank that researches sexual orientation and gender identity demographics to inform laws and public policy decisions.
When the case was argued in December, then-President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and families of transgender adolescents had called on the high court to strike down the Tennessee ban as unlawful sex discrimination and protect the constitutional rights of vulnerable Americans.
They argued that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same.
Tennessee’s law bans puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors, but it allows the same drugs to be used for other purposes.
Soon after Trump took office, the Justice Department told the court that its position had changed.
A major issue in the case was the appropriate level of scrutiny courts should apply to such laws.
The lowest level is known as rational basis review, and almost every law looked at that way is ultimately upheld. Indeed, the federal appeals court in Cincinnati that allowed the Tennessee law to be enforced held that lawmakers acted rationally to regulate medical procedures, well within their authority.
The appeals court reversed a trial court that employed a higher level of review, heightened scrutiny, which applies in cases of sex discrimination. Under this more searching examination, the state must identify an important objective and show that the law helps accomplish it.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at U.S. Supreme Court | Latest Updates.
the cac mamba
Veteran
glad that these sick groomers took the loss in Tennessee
i thought progressives said no one was performing tranny surgery on minors. so who cares anyway, right?
i thought progressives said no one was performing tranny surgery on minors. so who cares anyway, right?
right
the cac mamba
Veteran
what exactly is "gender affirming care for minors", and why in god's name should normal people care if republicans ban it?
the cac mamba
Veteran
"let us cut our dikks off, or we'll kill ourselves" is not a good battle cry, if you're trying to convince people this isn't mental illness
How are we gonna win elections?
Similar threads
