U.S. Supreme Court will hear challenge to Tennessee’s ban on care for transgender minors

Kristen Chapman moved from Tennessee to Virginia in July so her 15 year-old transgender daughter can continue receiving gender-affirming care. (John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

This story originally appeared on Tennessee Lookout .

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday morning it will take up a challenge to Tennessee’s 2023 ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Lambda Legal asked the court to review a ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the law.

Tennessee’s law prohibits doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to minors that includes puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries. Alabama passed a similar law in 2022.

Federal court ruling leaves families of Alabama transgender youth angry, uncertain

“Tennesseans deserve the freedom to live their lives as their authentic selves without government interference, yet every day this law remains in place, it inflicts further pain and injustice on trans youth and their families,” said Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, staff attorney for the ACLU of Tennessee. “The Court has the power to protect trans youth’s right to access the health care they need by striking down this discriminatory law.”

Legal advocates initially sued Tennessee on behalf of Samantha and Brian Williams of Nashville and their 15-year-old transgender daughter, two other plaintiff families filing anonymously, and Memphis-based doctor Dr. Susan Lacy.

The Biden administration also asked the Court to review the case under federal law allowing the government to intervene in private cases alleging violations of the right to equal protection under the law.

Justices will hear United States vs. Skrmetti in the fall and a decision is expected by June or July 2025.

U.S. District Judge Liles C. Burke blocked Alabama’s ban on hormones and puberty blockers in 2022, ruling that the law interfered with parents’ rights to make decisions for their children and that the state had failed to show that the medications used caused harm. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled Burke last year . The plaintiffs in the case — Alabama transgender youth and their families — want the full circuit to review the case.

Editor Brian Lyman contributed to this report.

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