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

Kristen Chapman moved from Tennessee to Virginia so her 15 year-old transgender daughter can continue receiving gender-affirming care. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will hear a case challenging Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care to minors. (John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

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

The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal asked the court to review a ruling by the 6th U.S. 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.

“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 healthcare 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.

This article first appeared in the Tennesee Lookout , a sister site of the Nebraska Examiner in the States Newsroom network.

Nebraska gender care restrictions

Nebraska lawmakers approved the “ Let Them Grow Act ” by a 33-15 vote in May 2023 . It prohibited gender-reassignment surgery for Nebraskans younger than 19 and required regulations to be drafted to regulate minors’ access to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

The state chief medical officer had to draft the regulations on the medications, which Gov. Jim Pillen approved in March . Those rules require youths to receive at least 40 hours of “gender-identity-focused contact hours of therapy” before the meds can be prescribed. Youths must also live primarily as their preferred gender for at least six months.

An initial assessment may be up to four consecutive hours; otherwise, no more than two hours of therapy can be completed in a single week toward the 40-hour goal. An additional hour of related therapy required at least every 90 days after treatments begin

The regulations also stipulate how medical providers are to go about acquiring informed patient consent, set a seven-day waiting period between consent and prescription and mandate that all injectable treatments be performed in a doctor’s office.

— By Nebraska Examiner reporter Zach Wendling

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