The Supreme Court is gearing up to hear a landmark case on transgender healthcare, an issue that has swept the nation, threatening the well-being of the trans community at large. The case, U.S. v Skrmetti, will follow up on a legal challenge to ban gender-affirming care in Tennessee.
Tennessee lawmakers approved the care ban last year. The ban threatens civil penalties for any adult who aids a minor in receiving out-of-state gender-affirming care without parental consent. Similar laws or policies are in effect in 26 states throughout the country, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Pink New reports that the plaintiffs in the case going before the Supreme Court include several families backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The case will set a precedent for similar state cases around the country, where gender-affirming care bans have been challenged by state residents. According to Pink News, ACLU deputy director for trans justice Chase Strangio said “The future of countless transgender youth in this and future generations rests on this court adhering to the facts, the constitution, and its own modern precedent.”
According to the ACLU, around 530 anti-LGBTQ+ bill have been proposed since the start of the year, and around 112 of those bills are bans or restrictions on healthcare. “These bans represent a dangerous and discriminatory affront to the well-being of transgender youth across the country and their constitutional right to equal protection under the law,” said Strangio. “They are the result of an openly political effort to wage war on a marginalized group and our most fundamental freedoms.”
