The US Department of Justice has filed a motion to join a lawsuit against Tennessee’s new law banning care for transgender minors, which is set to take effect on July 1. The lawsuit was filed on April 20 by three Tennessee families, who argue that the law is unconstitutional and would have a negative effect on their children’s mental health. Senate Bill 1 would prohibit several types of gender-affirming care for minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery. However, treatments such as puberty blockers would still be available for cisgender children.
The families are now considering leaving Tennessee, according to the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee by advocacy groups Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as the Washington D.C.-based law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Proponents of the bill argued that minors aren’t capable of making decisions about gender-affirming care — even though medical experts said those decisions are made with parents and health-care providers.
The Biden administration and the families are asking the court to block the law from taking effect, alleging that it would violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and gender identity. “No person should be denied access to necessary medical care just because of their transgender status,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, with the DOJ’s civil rights division. “The right to consider your health and medically-approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right that everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety, and suicide.”
Tennessee Republicans criticized the Justice Department’s involvement, with Gov. Bill Lee calling the motion “federal overreach at its worst.” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a defendant in the lawsuit, said in a statement to The Washington Post that the Biden administration had joined the advocacy groups “in attacking a bipartisan law that protects children from irreversible harm.” “I welcome the opportunity to litigate these issues and vigorously defend Tennessee’s law,” Skrmetti added.
Tennessee’s S.B. 1 is one of at least 36 anti-trans bills that have passed in state legislatures in 2023. According to a Post tracker, over 400 anti-trans bills have been introduced across the country — surpassing the number from the past four years combined. So far this year, Tennessee has introduced 15 bills restricting transgender people’s rights — two of which have been signed into law, including S.B. 1 and another banning drag shows on public property or in locations where they can be viewed by minors.
“The attacks on transgender people right now are so widespread and so vicious,” said Tara Borelli, senior counsel at Lambda Legal. “It’s hard to understand them as anything other than attacks motivated just by the desire to discriminate because there is no valid reason to single out transgender Americans and treat them as less than any other person in the United States.”
The possibility of losing access to gender-affirming care has been devastating for the families in the lawsuit, said Borelli. One of the plaintiffs, a 15-year-old transgender girl referred to as L.W., said in a statement that she wants to “have the freedom to live my life and do the things I enjoy.” After almost two years of taking medication, she fears her mental and physical health will suffer if she’s forced to stop.
Original Story at www.washingtonpost.com – 2023-04-28 13:14:00