NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — After previous court decisions, Tennessee families and health care providers are pitching their case to the Supreme Court of the United States on whether gender-affirming health care for adolescents should be legal.
They argue this violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, asked the Court to review a September 2023 decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals allowing Tennessee’s ban to stay in effect.
This argument has long been a fight during the last year stemming from SB01, which effectively banned gender-affirming care for those under 18 in Tennessee. The bill would end all care who previously started treatments by March 2024.
"I’m fighting this law because I know how important this care is for tens of thousands of transgender youth like me,” said 15-year-old L.W., Samantha and Brian Williams’ daughter. She and her parents are plaintiffs in the case. "It scares me to think about losing the medication that I need and if this law continues, my family may have to leave Tennessee – the place I have lived and loved my entire life. And with so many new laws like Tennessee’s, it is hard to imagine where we can even go. I want the Justices to know transgender people are not going away and that we deserve the same rights as everyone else."
The SCOTUS picks and chooses its cases to hear, so there's no guarantee this case from Tennessee will be heard.
How this started
Republicans sponsored a bill that would ban gender-affirming surgeries for children in the state of Tennessee.
Tennessee lawmakers made their way into the discourse of gender-affirming care and minors in September 2022 after a conservative blogger questioned whether Vanderbilt University Medical Center should provide gender-affirming care to patients. Matt Walsh — a Daily Wire conservative commentator, who questions the legitimacy of LGBTQ rights — said he considered the care to be that of castration and mutilation of minors and adults.
In October 2022, two rallies surrounding gender-affirming care merged into one in downtown Nashville. At that rally, Walsh gathered the likes of Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Sen. Jack Johnson and Rep. William Lamberth.
Those surgeries no longer happen at VUMC, but officials there said they require parental consent to treat minors who are being seen for issues to those receiving gender-affirming care and never refuse parental involvement for those under 18. VUMC officials said they began their Transgender Health Clinic because "transgender individuals are a high-risk population for mental and physical health issues and have been consistently underserved by the U.S. health system."
An average of five per year happen, hospital officials said, and none were genital procedures. Those under 18 were also at least 16 years of age, VUMC officials said.
Despite testimony asking lawmakers to vote no and leading to litigation in spring 2023, the bill preventing gender-affirming care for minors continued to move forward in the Tennessee legislature. It passed and was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee.
Where has the court case been
A district court concluded that the ban against gender-affirming care was "facially unconstitutional," meaning it could be challenged based on evidence of false statements or other legal issues in the document itself.
However, Tennessee appealed the district court to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal. The state won.
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called this temporary reversal a win for Tennessee.
“The case is far from over, but this is a big win. The court of appeals lifted the injunction, meaning the law can be fully enforced, and recognized that Tennessee is likely to win the constitutional argument and the case,” he said in a statement in July.
