US Supreme Court upholds law banning gender transition for minors

The United States Supreme Court upheld, on Wednesday 18, a state law that prohibits minors from accessing gender transition treatments, a topic that generates controversy in the country.

Twenty Republican-run states have enacted laws restricting health care for transgender youth.

Put six votes to three , the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee legislation banning hormone treatments, puberty blockers and gender-transition surgery for anyone under 18.

“The role of the Court is not to ‘judge the wisdom, justice, or logic’ of the law, but only to ensure that the law does not violate equal protection guarantees,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.

“It does not” because matters related to politics “are therefore properly left to the people, their elected representatives and the democratic process,” he added.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in December. The Justice Department under then-Democratic President Joe Biden joined critics of the Tennessee law, arguing that it violates the Constitution’s equality clause by denying transgender people access to medical treatments afforded to others.

His successor, Republican Donald Trump, signed an executive order restricting gender transition procedures for minors.

While there is no national law in the United States against gender-based medical treatments for trans youth, Trump's order ended any federal support for such procedures.

“Protect minors”

During oral arguments in December, Tennessee Attorney General Matthew Rice told the court that the law was passed to “protect minors from risky and unproven medical interventions” with “often irreversible and life-altering consequences.”

Chase Strangio, an attorney for the powerful American Civil Liberties Union, which represents three transgender teenagers, their parents and a Memphis gynecologist, countered that the Tennessee law “eliminated the one treatment that alleviated years of suffering” for the plaintiffs.

“What they did was impose a clumsy ban, overriding the careful judgment of parents who love and care for their children and the doctors who recommended the treatment,” said Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court.

In his inauguration speech, Trump stated that his administration would recognize only two genders , male and female, and signed an executive order on January 28 restricting gender transition procedures for minors.

“Across the country, medical professionals are mutilating and sterilizing an increasing number of children,” the order states. “This dangerous trend will be a stain on our nation’s history and must end.”

Puberty blockers are used in teenagers considering gender transition to delay the onset of unwanted physical changes.

Proponents argue the process could save the lives of children suffering from gender dysphoria.