US Supreme Court backs Tennessee youth transgender care ban – DW – 06/18/2025
In a setback for transgender rights in the United States, the conservative-dominated court voted to uphold a ban on hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery for minors.
The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
The court, which is dominated by conservative justices, voted 6-3 in favor of the Republican-backed ban on hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery for patients under the age of 18, ruling that it does not violate the US Constitution's 14th Amendment.
What did the judges say?
"Tennessee concluded that there is an ongoing debate among medical experts regarding the risks and benefits associated with administering puberty blockers and hormones to treat gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder and gender incongruence," wrote conservative Chief Justice John Roberts.
"[The Tennessee] ban on such treatments responds directly to that uncertainty."
The Supreme Court ruling comes after several plaintiffs, including three transgender minors, their parents and a Memphis-based doctor who provides such care, took legal action against the Tennessee law, which they argued discriminates based on sex and transgender status, thus violating the 14th Amendment.
But Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the court largely deferred to the state legislature's policy choices in upholding the ban without conducting a "meaningful judicial review."
Dissenting "in sadness," she said the court had "abandon[ed] transgender children and their families to political whims."
Chase Strangio, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, representing the plaintiffs, said that the Tennessee law has "taken away the only treatment that relieved years of suffering" for those concerned.
The first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the court, Strangio added: "What they've done is impose a blunderbuss ban, overriding the very careful judgment of parents who love and care for their children and the doctors who have recommended the treatment."
Trump declares US to only recognize two genders
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A setback for transgender rights in the US
The decision represents a setback for transgender rights, an issue at the heart of the culture debates that have become a dominant feature of American political life.
While the Justice Department under Democratic former President Joe Biden had challenged the Tennessee law, his Republican successor Donald Trump has taken a hardline stance against transgender rights.
"Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children," read a January 28 executive order signed by Trump, who had said in his inauguration speech that his government would only recognize two genders: male and female.
"This dangerous trend will be a stain on our nation's history, and it must end," it added.
According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, a think tank that researches sexual orientation and gender identity demographics to inform public policy decisions, there are about 300,000 people between the ages of 13 and 17 in the United States who identify as transgender, plus around 1.3 million adults.
Trans people in the US fear massive setbacks under Trump
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Edited by: Rana Taha
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