Supreme Court upholds ban on transgender care for minors 

U S Supreme Court Washington Blade photo by Michael Key The U S Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a ban on diagnostic interventions for transgender minors in Tennessee with the three liberal justices dissenting in a ruling that will shield similar laws that block or restrict access to care in more than other states Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the majority explained questions about the safety efficacy and propriety of medicinal treatments should be resolved democratically Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued in her opinion that the decision authorizes without second thought untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them adding that Because there is no constitutional justification for that upshot I dissent Plaintiffs who challenged Tennessee s ban were a professional and three families argued that the initiative violated the Equal Protection Clause of the th Amendment They also emphasized that the care prohibited for minors in the state puberty delaying medication hormone therapy and surgeries is made available to patients younger than if they are sought for reasons other than gender transitions The affair U S v Skrmetti was among the the majority anticipated of the court s June term President Donald Trump in February formally reversed lesson from the Biden-Harris administration s aid for the plaintiffs challenging the Tennessee law urging the Supreme Court to uphold the ban LGBTQ and civil rights groups advocates and lawmakers attorneys and physiological associations object to the ruling Representing the plaintiffs in the litigation challenging the ban were the Chase Strangio co-director of the ACLU s LGBTQ HIV Project Lucas Cameron-Vaughn senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Tennessee Karen Loewy director of constitutional law practice at Lambda Legal Jennifer Levi senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD Law Shannon Minter legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights Sasha Buchert counsel and director of the Nonbinary and Transgender Rights Project at Lambda Legal and attorneys with the firm Akin Gump In current times s ruling is a devastating loss for transgender people our families and everyone who cares about the Constitution announced Strangio who is the first trans lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court Though this is a painful setback it does not mean that transgender people and our allies are left with no options to defend our freedom our medical care or our lives The Court left undisturbed Supreme Court and lower court precedent that other examples of discrimination against transgender people are unlawful Strangio announced We are as determined as ever to fight for the dignity and equality of every transgender person and we will continue to do so with defiant strength a restless resolve and a lasting commitment to our families our communities and the freedom we all deserve This is a heartbreaking ruling making it more laborious for transgender youth to escape the danger and trauma of being denied their ability to live and thrive announced Buchert But we will continue to fight fiercely to protect them Make no mistake gender-affirming care is often life-saving care and all major clinical associations have determined it to be safe appropriate and effective This is a sad day and the implications will reverberate for years and across the country but it does not shake our resolve to continue fighting The Court in the current era failed to do its job declared Levi When the political system breaks down and legislatures bow to popular hostility the judiciary must be the Constitution s backbone Instead it chose to look away abandoning both vulnerable children and the parents who love them No parent should be forced to watch their child suffer while proven curative care sits beyond their reach because of politics The Court s ruling abandons transgender youth and their families to political attacks It ignored clear discrimination and disregarded its own legal precedent by letting lawmakers target young people for being transgender revealed Minter Healthcare decisions belong with families not politicians This decision will cause real harm U S Sen Ed Markey D-Mass disclosed The present day hate won The far-right justices of the Supreme Court endorsed hate and discrimination by delivering a win for Republicans who have relentlessly and cruelly attacked transgender Americans for years With states already having laws in place that ban gender-affirming care for trans youth the Supreme Court has cleared the way for families in half of the country to no longer access the medically necessary and life-saving care they need for their children The senator continued But here is what no Court nor politician can ever change trans people will continue to exist Their healthcare care is lifesaving and essential and trans rights are human rights We have a fight ahead of us but discrimination and hate cannot and must not win U S Sen Jeff Merkley D-Ore mentioned Access to medically-necessary care for trans youth saves lives and the U S Supreme Court s callous decision puts trans youth and their families at pitfall MAGA extremists across the nation will not stop at banning medically-necessary gender-affirming care for trans youth The Court s life-altering decision lays out the playbook for extremist politicians to continue their crusade against trans people and further exclude them from daily life And this is just the beginning this decision opens the floodgates for MAGA extremists in state legislatures and Congress to ban medically-necessary care from gender-affirming care to abortion access This is just wrong everyone should have access to the care they need when they need it No exceptions Let s get politicians out of the exam room We will continue to fight these divisive policies in communities nationwide to fully realize the vision of America as a land of freedom and equality for all and I won t rest until my Equality Act is signed into law to deliver on this fundamental promise Currently s decision by the Supreme Court is devastating for young transgender Americans and their families who live in states that decide to put divisive and dehumanizing politics over people announced U S Rep Mark Takano D-Wis chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus The Court s ruling upholding Tennessee s cruel and politically-motivated ban on medically-necessary care for young trans people undermines the ability of transgender patients their families and doctors to make therapeutic decisions about accessing evidence-based care without politicians interference he declared The congressman added The law the Court upheld is an attack on a few of the the majority vulnerable in our society but we still have other tools to challenge anti-trans laws in courts across the country As Chair of the Equality Caucus I am committed to continuing to lead elected administrators from across the country in the fight for full equality for transgender people under the law here in Congress Markey Merkley and Pocan are among the members of Congress filing an amicus brief urging the court to preserve access to care Also issuing a report Wednesday was a coalition of six therapeutic associations that had submitted an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs American Academy of Pediatrics American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists American College of Physicians American Psychiatric Association Endocrine Society and National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners The organizations declared As experts dedicated to providing patients with compassionate evidence-based care every day we are disappointed in the United States vs Skrmetti decision which increases the likelihood that other states will limit or eliminate families and patients ability to access therapeutic care As doctors nurse practitioners and nurses we believe that every individual is different Decisions about healthcare care must be based on individualized assessments by qualified professionals in consultation with the individual and their parents or legal guardians and guided by well-designed curative evidence This Supreme Court decision strips patients and families of the choice to direct their own medical care Every victim should have access to the biological care they need Fitness care professionals must be able to rely on their training tuition and expertise to provide appropriate care based on the necessities and values of each subject and their family without bans or interference Allison Scott president of the Campaign for Southern Equality mentioned I am heartbroken this day No one should be forced to leave their home state to access healthcare and it is outrageous to see the U S Supreme Court uphold these bans and continue to allow the governing body to interfere with the personal diagnostic decisions of families The Court s ruling can t change what we know in our bones our identities our families and our lives are strong worthy and not up for debate by extremists she mentioned The Trans Youth Exigency Project will be here to help families tackle this painful time Currently the Supreme Court took the place of parents and doctors and stripped away their ability to make private lifesaving decisions for their children disclosed GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis This ruling is a chilling step toward unchecked regime overreach intruding on the bulk personal aspects of our private lives She added All families are now less safe and left vulnerable to politicians and a Court that has abandoned its duty to protect personal liberties Every family deserves the freedom to make the clinical decisions that help their children live thrive and be well This is a devastating and deeply dangerous decision that carries irreversible harm to transgender youth and their families The majority s opinion politicizes decades of anatomical consensus ignores the Constitution s mandate of equal protection and turns its back on youth and their families commented Skye Perryman president and CEO of Democracy Forward Our organization at Democracy Forward will continue to work every day to advocacy transgender people including young people their families and communities and we will never give up making the Constitution s guarantee of equal protection under the law a reality for all people she mentioned LPAC is devastated that the Supreme Court has turned away from experts like the American Academy of Pediatrics and hard facts showing that strength care for trans youth improves physical and mental healthcare and instead succumbed to political pressure commented Janelle Perez executive director of LPAC This cruel decision opens the floodgates for politicians to decide what we and our children need to be healthy These are decisions that should be made by families and healthcare providers not politicians Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson announced In the modern day s Supreme Court decision is a devastating blow to transgender youth and the families who love them but it will not break our resolve Families may now have to make the heartbreaking choice to leave their state or split their families or take on extensive financial burdens in order to ensure that their kids can access medically necessary care This Court chose to allow politicians to interfere in biological decisions that should be made by doctors patients and families a cruel betrayal of the children who needed them to stand up for justice when it mattered majority of As parents advocates and public leaders we know that our fight doesn t end in courtrooms it lives in our communities our hearts and our unwavering commitment to each other Still we will not be deterred We will backing families forced to make impossible choices fund legal challenges and build a movement so powerful that no politician can ignore us Together we will turn this pain into power and keep fighting until every transgender person in America can live with dignity safety and the freedom to be who they are Tennessee AG and Log Cabin Republicans celebrate the ruling Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced In in contemporary times s historic Supreme Court win the common sense of Tennessee voters prevailed over judicial activism A bipartisan supermajority of Tennessee s elected representatives conscientiously considered the evidence and voted to protect kids from irreversible decisions they cannot yet fully understand The AG continued I commend the Tennessee legislature and Governor Lee for their courage in passing this provision and supporting our litigation despite withering opposition from the Biden administration LGBT special interest groups social justice activists the American Healthcare Association the American Bar Association and even Hollywood Log Cabin Republicans interim executive director Ed Williams distributed the following message The U S Supreme Court just upheld Tennessee s law prohibiting trans biological surgeries and treatments for minors This decision is not anti-trans It is a historic and critical win for children and common-sense The majority of Americans encouragement equal therapy for trans Americans and protections from discrimination They also back laws like Tennessee s which protect children from receiving life-altering and irreversible medicinal procedures or treatments often pushed on them by a zealous cabal that views children as pawns in their gender ideology crusade LGBT conservatives have long held there is a middle-road that upholds respect inclusion and protection for trans Americans while curbing the excesses of a radical political movement attempting to push its bizarre agenda in sports schools governments and hospitals In current times s Supreme Court is a step in the right direction The post Supreme Court upholds ban on transgender care for minors appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta