Organizations and families are challenging Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
Senate Bill 1 was signed into law by Governor Bill Lee on March 2nd and prohibits healthcare professionals from administering gender-affirming care to minors. The law is set to take effect on July 1.
This legislation will make gender-affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers inaccessible, and trans people in Tennessee will not have access to this care until they reach the age of 18. Similar restrictions have been made in states like Arkansas and Alabama.
The Flyer also reported in March that the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, and Lambda Legal (a national organization “committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV”) issued a statement where they had promised legal action against the Tennessee law that will prohibit gender-affirming care for minors.
According to the Campaign for Southern Equality, these organizations, along with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld LLP, have filed the case, L.W. v. Skrmetti, on behalf of “several trans youth, their parents and a medical provider.”
The preliminary statement of this complaint said that the law was passed “over the sustained and robust opposition of medical experts in Tennessee and across the country.”
“It was also passed over the pleas of families across Tennessee who urged lawmakers not to interfere in the medical decision-making of parents, their minor children, and their doctors,” the complaint stated.
The complaint also said that this law will disrupt and prevent medical care for “hundreds of adolescents across Tennessee,” and that it violates the constitutional rights of minors and their parents.
It also stated the effects of gender dysphoria, which was defined as a “serious medical condition characterized by clinically significant distress caused by incongruence between a person’s gender identity and the sex they were designated at birth.”
“All of the major medical associations in the United States recognize that adolescents with gender dysphoria may require medical interventions to treat severe distress,” continued the complaint. “In providing this medically necessary healthcare, sometimes referred to as ‘gender-affirming care,’ medical providers are guided by widely accepted protocols for assessing and treating transgender adolescents.”
According to the complaint, this law prevents healthcare providers from following “evidence-based protocols.”
Phil Cobucci, founder of inclusion tennessee, said they have heard many families were worried about the passing of this law since the beginning of this legislative session.
“We’ve been working tirelessly to prepare and ensure their transgender adolescents and their families can continue to access care in their home state,” said Cobucci. “The filing of this lawsuit gives us great hope, and we appreciate the legal organizations and plaintiffs for their leadership in court. As we await a decision in this groundbreaking legal case, we will continue to support trans youth and their families every way that we can.”
Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director at the Campaign for Southern Equality, stated the law is “flatly unconstitutional” and should be struck down.
“We hope that the court will grant relief so that trans youth in Tennessee can continue accessing the health care that they need and deserve, without leaving their home state,” said Beach-Ferrara.
The Campaign for Southern Equality, inclusion tennessee, and OUTMemphis have set up resources for families of transgender youth to access out-of-state providers by providing emergency grants of $250.