Federal judges block gender-affirming care bans in two states as trans advocates rack up wins

The trans community has seen a series of legislative wins as of late. This week, federal judges in Kentucky and Tennessee both issued temporary injunctions on portions of each state’s gender-affirming care bans.

Both judges blocked the parts of the bans that would have prevented trans youth from using puberty blockers or undergoing hormone therapy, though they allowed the portions blocking gender-affirming surgery to stand. Considering it is extremely rare for trans youth to undergo gender-affirming surgery, the injunctions are considered a huge victory for trans youth.

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Christ Hartman, executive director of Kentucky’s Fairness campaign, told the Associated Press that the judge’s decision stopped “the most egregious parts of Kentucky’s anti-trans law.”

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The injunctions were issued by a Trump appointee – U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson in Tennessee – and an Obama appointee – U.S. District Judge David Hale in Kentucky.

“If Tennessee wishes to regulate access to certain medical procedures, it must do so in a manner that does not infringe on the rights conferred by the United States Constitution, which is of course supreme to all other laws of the land,” Richardson wrote in his decision.

Richardson also acknowledged the ire his decision would cause on the right, but he emphasized that in every single state in which a gender-affirming care ban has been challenged, a judge has found that the laws are likely unconstitutional.

“The Court realizes that today’s decision will likely stoke the already controversial fire regarding the rights of transgender individuals in American society on the one hand, and the countervailing power of states to control certain activities within their borders and to use that power to protect minors.”

“The Court, however, does not stand alone in its decision. As repeatedly emphasized above, several federal courts across the country have been confronted with laws that mirror S.B. 1 in material respects. To the Court’s knowledge, every court to consider preliminarily enjoining a ban on gender-affirming care for minors has found that such a ban is likely unconstitutional. And at least one federal court has found such a ban to be unconstitutional at final judgment.”

Most recently, an Obama-appointed federal judge in Arkansas struck down the state’s gender-affirming care ban for trans minors, issuing a permanent injunction to stop the law from being enforced. A few days earlier, a Trump-appointed federal judge temporarily blocked an Indiana law banning gender-affirming care for trans youth in the state. Earlier this month, a judge also temporarily struck down parts of Florida’s ban, saying that it contradicts widely accepted standards” of medical care. Bans have also been temporarily halted in Alabama and Oklahoma.

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