Supreme Court to hear case of Tennessee's ban on gender-altering procedures for minors

Advocates for transgender rights are turning to the Supreme Court on the issue of gender-altering procedures for transgender minors, which has been banned by Tennessee and 25 other Republican-led states.

The fight over whether transgender adolescents can access puberty blockers and hormonal treatments is part of a broader conflict including which sports competitions they can join and which bathrooms they can use.

Trump backed a national ban on such care as part of his 2024 campaign in which he demeaned and mocked transgender people.

In its waning days, the Biden administration, along with families of transgender adolescents, will appeal to the justices to strike down the Tennessee ban as unlawful sex discrimination and protect the constitutional rights of vulnerable Americans.

A lawyer for Tennessee will argue that the “life-altering gender-transition procedures” are risky and unproven and that it’s the state’s role to protect children.

One of Trump’s appointees, Justice Neil Gorsuch, authored a ruling in 2020 that protected LGBTQ people from discrimination in the workplace under federal civil rights law. The administration and transgender families both rely on that decision to bolster their arguments.

After Trump takes office, it’s possible the new administration could weigh in on the case, which is not expected to be decided until the spring.

Most Republican-controlled states have adopted a ban similar to the one in Tennessee, and those laws mostly are in effect, despite legal challenges. The Tennessee case is the first time the nation’s top court will consider the constitutionality of the bans.

Among the arguments advanced by defenders of the state laws is that many children who initially say they are transgender eventually change their mind.

Some doctors who work with transgender minors said a state should not come between doctors, their patients and parents. 



(AP file photo)