My Daughter Was at the Center of the Supreme Court Case on Trans Care. Our Hearts Are Broken.
There is something incredibly surreal about finding your family at the center of a landmark Supreme Court decision, from the robes and the formality to the long, red velvet curtains behind the justices. No mother imagines that her everyday fight to do right by her child would land her there.
My daughter, L.W., came out as transgender late in 2020. She was just shy of 13. Four and a half years later, she is thriving, healthy and happy after pursuing evidence-based gender-affirming care. But the very care that is improving her life became a primary political target of the Republican supermajority in our home state, Tennessee. When the legislature banned my daughter's care in 2023, we fought back by suing the state. Today, we found out that we lost that case when the Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, to uphold Tennessee's ban on such care.
I am beside myself. Our heartfelt plea was not enough. The compelling, expert legal arguments by our lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal were not enough. I had to face my daughter and tell her that our last hope is gone. She's angry, scared and hurt that the American system of democracy that we so put on a pedestal didn't work to protect her.
My family did not start this journey to land in Washington in front of that white marble hall of justice. We ended up there through parental and civic duty. My and my husband's demands in our lawsuit against the ban felt quite basic: Let us do our job as parents. Let us love and care for our daughter in the best way we and our doctors know how. Don't let our child's very existence be a political wedge issue. Being a teenager is hard enough. Being a parent of a teenager is hard enough.
Raising a transgender kid in Tennessee, we know that not everyone understands people like her or her health care — and that's OK. We don't need to agree on everything. But we do need our fundamental rights respected.
I have devoted myself to finding our daughter consistent care in one state after another. The nightmare of our disrupted life pales in comparison to the nightmare of losing access to the health care that has allowed our daughter to thrive. After Tennessee passed its ban, we traveled to another provider in a different state. After that state passed a ban, we moved on to another one. We are now on our fourth state. The five-hour drive each way, taking time off work and school, is hard, but thankfully, we found a clinic and pharmacy that take our insurance.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's Two-Week Pause Is a Big Gamble Iran Nuclear Crisis Will Break His Way
After moving to the precipice of military action against Iran, President Trump finds himself caught between negotiations that show few signs of yielding a nuclear deal and a war he is reluctant to join. The risk is that Iran concludes that Trump is bluffing, opts to endure Israel's bombs and clings to its longstanding position that it has the right to an enrichment program. Then Trump would face enormous pressure to order an attack against a foe that, though already battered by Israel, retains several options for striking back at the U.S. and its allies.
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
CoreCivic would make $4.2M a month running ICE detention center in Leavenworth
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The federal government has signed a deal with the private prison firm CoreCivic Corp. to reopen a 1,033-bed prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, as part of a surge of contracts from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). CoreCivic officials said ICE's letter contracts provide initial funding to begin reopening facilities while the company negotiates a longer-term deal. The Leavenworth deal is worth $4.2 million a month to the company, it disclosed in a court filing. ICE is using no-bid contracts, boosting big firms, to get more detention beds The City of Leavenworth has filed two lawsuits against CoreCivic. The first was filed in March, and another lawsuit was filed in May after a judge threw out the initial lawsuit. The city is accusing the corporation of trying to reopen the facility without acquiring the necessary permit from the city. CoreCivic claims that its contract with ICE allows it to bypass Leavenworth law. 'In other words, CoreCivic refuses to comply with the city's permitting process because, it contends, it will take too long to do so,' the city argues in its latest lawsuit. City of Leavenworth files new lawsuit against CoreCivic after judge throws out previous suit On June 4, court records show that a district judge sided with Leavenworth and issued a temporary restraining order against CoreCivic – preventing the corporation from reopening the shuttered Leavenworth facility until it receives a special use permit. Despite CoreCivic signing a contract with ICE, Leavenworth County Manager Scott Peterson said the temporary injunction is still in place. CoreCivic previously housed inmates at the detention center up until 2021. During that time, it was embroiled in several scandals – with U.S. District Court Judge Julie A. Robinson describing the facility as 'an absolute hell hole.' CoreCivic has been accused of rampant abuse, violence, as well as violating the constitutional rights of its detainees and staff, according to the lawsuit. Not only is CoreCivic expected to make more than $4 million per month – if its able to reopen its detention center in Leavenworth – it also has direct political ties to several GOP candidates. ICE has cited a 'compelling urgency' for thousands more detention beds, and its efforts have sent profit estimates soaring for politically connected private companies, including CoreCivic, based in the Nashville, Tennessee, area and another giant firm, The Geo Group Inc., headquartered in southern Florida. CoreCivic, along with Geo, donated millions of dollars to largely GOP candidates at all levels of government and national political groups, the Associated Press reported. For more background information on CoreCivic and the Leavenworth lawsuit, click here. You can read the Associated Press' full report here. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Judge blocks private prison operator from housing ICE detainees at shuttered Kansas center City of Leavenworth files new lawsuit against CoreCivic after judge throws out previous suit Judge throws out suit against CoreCivic's proposed ICE detention center Former Leavenworth Detention Center worker recounts brutal attack City of Leavenworth files lawsuit against CoreCivic for attempting to open ICE facility without permit Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
38 minutes ago
- CBS News
Oakland teacher speaks out against homeless sweeps, cites broken promises by city
When Travis Walker isn't teaching, he and his partner provide warm meals and resources at a homeless encampment site in East Oakland. "It just feels cruel, it just feels cruel," Walker told CBS News Bay Area. "The city hasn't provided this encampment specifically with any sort of services to make it livable out here." He said he is disappointed by Mayor Barbara Lee's actions in enacting encampment sweeps. "I voted for Barbara Lee because she said she wasn't going to do this, and it's crushing," Walker said. "Their policy explicitly says they're not going to do sweeps before they've connected people with housing, mental health services and addiction services, and these people haven't been connected to housing." Operation Dignity in Oakland has been underway for more than a week now, as the city tries to get those unhoused into shelters. However, limited shelter spaces have been problematic in actually getting individuals off the streets. Heidi Almendarez is one of dozens of unhoused people living along East 12th Street, between 45th and 47th streets. She said she's been in this encampment site on and off for about eight years. "Well, we're being moved again, but they're not offering us no housing, no anything. This is like the third move that we had, within a year, I would say," Almendarez told CBS News Bay Area. Law enforcement officials were in the neighborhood at 9 o'clock sharp in the morning on Monday, promptly enforcing these encampment sweeps. For Almendarez, she said she unfortunately knows the drill. "On 66th, they took my car, which was where I was living out of. And right now, they're about to take the trailer that I'm in. I don't know what's going to happen after that, you know?" Almendarez said. "They provided, I think, a spot for me in downtown Oakland, but I couldn't go because they didn't have my dog's records. They didn't have his shots and that stalled it, and they told me that I couldn't go," she added. So she came back to this encampment in East Oakland for the time being, but now she is on the go again. "Shelters are all full, or some of them are closed down. It's hard," she said. An Oakland city spokesperson sent CBS News Bay Area this statement: "Operation Dignity has been on the ground for more than a week working with individuals to review all resources that may be available for each individual case. We currently have limited shelter availability, and Operation Dignity is also partnering with nonprofits and the County of Alameda to monitor resources that may become available through the schedule of this operation. This encampment closure operation is posted for a duration of three weeks, and as we work through shelter limitations, we will be prioritizing removal of debris and stolen vehicles, and prioritizing individual closures where we observe life safety issues." Walker said he wanted to make it clear that the dumping problem goes far beyond the encampment. "Because they're dumping in the encampment, I think a lot of people assume that it's the unhoused people out here who are making that mess but it's mostly not. They contribute for sure, but a lot of the time it's car bumpers, it's couches, it's those sorts of things they simply don't own," he said. He adds that sweeps are not the solution, as the unhoused continue to bounce from one area to another. "These are their homes, and if you're not going to give them somewhere new to live, why are you taking their homes from them?" Walker said. He adds that many unhoused people say they are also worried for their safety in the shelters. "Many of the residents are scared to be in the shelters and don't feel safe because they have been attacked, assaulted, and had their personal belongings stolen in shelters, which has been horrible for their mental health and physical safety," he said. "They don't even have enough beds in general." As for Almendarez, she doesn't know where she's going to go next. "Other things that they could have taken, not my house. But they took it. I mean, they didn't care. They didn't give me anything, you know?" she said. But she hopes that she can soon find a home without the fear of being kicked out again.
