US Supreme Court delivers big blow to transgender rights as it okays Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for kids

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a state law banning gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors, a stunning setback to transgender rights. The top court upheld Tennessee’s ban on transgender puberty blocker and hormone therapy treatments for minors in a 6-3 decision in a major win for the 24 states with similar laws on the books. The Tennessee law barred hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery for those under the age of 18.

The case, United States v Skrmetti, was filed last year by three families of trans children and a provider of gender-affirming care.

The court was divided on ideological lines, with the six conservatives in the majority and the three liberals in dissent. Two dozen Republican-led states have enacted laws restricting medical care for transgender youth, and the case will have repercussions for the prohibitions across the country.


Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that the Tennessee law does not constitute a form of sex discrimination that would violate the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

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"This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, author of the majority opinion.

"The Court's role is not 'to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic' (of the law) but only to ensure that the law does not violate equal protection guarantees," Roberts said.

"It does not. Questions regarding the law's policy are thus appropriately left to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process."

Republican President Donald Trump has since taken office and he signed an executive order in January restricting gender transition procedures for people under the age of 19.

While there is no US-wide law against gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender youth, the Trump order ended any federal backing for such procedures.

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Trump, in his inauguration speech, said his government would henceforth only recognize two genders -- male and female -- and he issued his executive order a week later restricting gender transition procedures for minors.

"Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children," the executive order said. "This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation's history, and it must end."

Trump's order said it would now be US policy that it would "not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another."

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The order bars funding for gender transition under the Medicaid health insurance program for poor families, the Medicare scheme used by retirees, and Defense Department health insurance that covers some two million children.

According to a study by UCLA's Williams Institute, an estimated 1.6 million people aged 13 and older in the United States identify as transgender.

(With AFP inputs)