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Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
WH praises SCOTUS ruling upholding TN ban on transgender treatments: ‘Victory for America's children'
The White House on Thursday praised the Supreme Court's ruling that a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and other treatments for transgender minors did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. During the daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared it "a huge victory for America's children." "And it's obviously something this administration believes strongly in that young, minor children should not be allowed to be subjected to chemical castration and mutilation." Leavitt said Trump has signed "very strong executive orders" on the subject and that the administration is "grateful" for Nashville's efforts to protect Tennessee youth. "And we are grateful the Supreme Court ruled on the side of the law [and] on the side of protecting America's innocent children." The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, was brought by three transgender minors and their families. The Biden administration was able to join as namesake plaintiff due to a law allowing the president to be party to lawsuits regarding the Equal Protection Clause. Then-Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued for the administration -- while later, the ensuing Trump administration opposed the Biden position, but the case continued. On Wednesday, a 6-3 ruling upheld TN SB 1, which "prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow 'a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex' or to treat 'purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor's sex and asserted identity." Chief Justice John Roberts said the law in question did not "classify on any bases that warrant heightened review." "This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field," he said. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti – the defendant -- said in a statement that the law had been supported by a "bipartisan supermajority of Tennessee's elected representatives" who "carefully considered the evidence and voted to protect kids from irreversible decisions they cannot yet fully understand." "I commend the Tennessee legislature and Governor Lee for their courage in passing this legislation and supporting our litigation despite withering opposition from the Biden administration, LGBT special interest groups, social justice activists, the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, and even Hollywood," he said.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Supreme Court upholds Tennessee law barring gender-affirming care for youth
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that a Tennessee law barring puberty blockers and hormone therapies for transgender minors does not violate the US Constitution and can therefore remain in effect. Wednesday's decision was split along ideological lines, with the high court's six conservative judges siding with Tennessee and its three left-leaning judges joining together for a dissent. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the majority. In it, he explained that the plaintiffs — three transgender minors, their parents and a doctor — had not successfully shown a violation of the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law. The plaintiffs had sought to lift the ban, arguing that Tennessee's law, known as SB1, discriminated against them based on their sex and gender. Roberts, however, disagreed. He pointed out that the ban applies to young men and women equally. 'SB1 does not mask sex-based classifications,' he wrote. 'The law does not prohibit conduct for one sex that it permits for the other. Under SB1, no minor may be administered puberty blockers or hormones to treat gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, or gender incongruence.' Roberts also noted that puberty blockers continue to be available under the Tennessee law to treat congenital defects, early puberty, disease or injury among children. That application likewise was allowed regardless of sex, he wrote. 'SB1 does not exclude any individual from medical treatments on the basis of transgender status but rather removes one set of diagnoses — gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, and gender incongruence — from the range of treatable conditions,' Roberts said. Transgender youth are sometimes prescribed hormone inhibitors to delay the onset of puberty, thereby stopping the development of secondary sexual characteristics like breasts, deepening voices and facial hair. LGBTQ advocates say such gender-affirming care is essential in some cases to alleviate the stress of such changes and reduce the potential need for surgeries later on. Puberty blockers are widely considered to be safe and their effects temporary. But Roberts noted that some medical providers are pushing for more research into the long-term effects of the drugs and pointing to 'open questions' in the medical field. 'Health authorities in a number of European countries have raised significant concerns regarding the potential harms associated with using puberty blockers and hormones to treat transgender minors,' Roberts wrote. 'Recent developments only underscore the need for legislative flexibility in this area,' he continued. The majority's opinion was met by a fierce dissent, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She pointed out that puberty blockers can save lives, given that transgender youth face higher rates of suicide, self-harm and bullying. 'The majority contorts logic and precedent to say otherwise, inexplicably declaring it must uphold Tennessee's categorical ban on lifesaving medical treatment so long as 'any reasonably conceivable state of facts' might justify it,' Sotomayor wrote. 'By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent.' She emphasised that the consensus in the US medical community is that puberty blockers are 'appropriate and medically necessary' in cases of a comprehensive and clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. 'Transgender adolescents' access to hormones and puberty blockers (known as gender-affirming care) is not a matter of mere cosmetic preference,' Sotomayor said. 'To the contrary, access to care can be a question of life or death.' She questioned why Tennessee lawmakers should have the power to regulate a medical decision — and why puberty blockers could still be used to address issues like unwanted facial hair among teenage girls but not gender affirmation among transgender youth. 'Tennessee's ban applies no matter what the minor's parents and doctors think, with no regard for the severity of the minor's mental health conditions or the extent to which treatment is medically necessary for an individual child,' Sotomayor said. Wednesday's decision comes at a precarious time for the transgender community in the US. Since returning to office for a second term in January, US President Donald Trump has taken steps to limit the rights of transgender people. On his very first day back in the White House, the Republican leader issued an executive order announcing the federal government would only recognise two sexes, male and female. Days later, on January 27, he issued another executive order, effectively setting the stage for a ban on transgender troops in the military. Trump denounced transgender people as 'expressing a false 'gender identity'' and said their identity 'conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle'. The Supreme Court upheld that ban as well. June 6 marked an initial deadline for transgender troops to self-identify and leave the military voluntarily. In addition, Trump has said his administration will withhold federal funds from schools that allow transgender girls and women to participate in women's sports. That decision has led to clashes with states like Maine, where Democratic Governor Janet Mills has pledged to stand up to Trump. The fight over Tennessee's ban on puberty blockers arrives amid a wave of similar legislation: According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), some 25 states have bans on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth. The group estimates that those laws leave around 100,000 transgender minors without access to medical care they may need. The ban the Supreme Court weighed on Wednesday had initially faced an injunction from a lower court, but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction pending an appeal. The ACLU called the Supreme Court's decision a setback but pledged to continue filing legal challenges. In a statement, it noted that the Supreme Court had not overturned the wider precedent that discriminating against transgender people is illegal. 'Today's ruling is a devastating loss for transgender people, our families, and everyone who cares about the Constitution,' said Chase Strangio, a co-director for the ACLU's LGBTQ and HIV Project. 'We are as determined as ever to fight for the dignity and equality of every transgender person.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
US Supreme Court rules that states can ban transgender care for minors
The US Supreme Court has ruled that states may put limits on or even fully ban gender transition care for young justices voted 6 to 3 to decide that a Tennessee law that limited access to treatments such as puberty blockers for under-18s was not discrimination. Three Tennessee transgender teenagers, their parents, and a doctor who provides transition medications had argued the 2023 Tennessee ban violated a US constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law by discriminating on the basis of case, known as United States v Skrmetti, marked the first time the court has taken up the issue of transgender healthcare. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
US tells states: Follow Cass Review in treatment of ‘trans' children
The US government is pressuring states to halt funding for puberty blockers for children and follow the UK's Cass Review. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which provides health coverage to more than 160 million Americans, urged directors to adopt the findings of the report, which concluded children who think they are transgender should not be rushed into treatment they may regret. In a letter sent to medical directors, seen by The Telegraph, the agency said that Britain has 'diverged' from the United States and that the National Health Service's new approach is more effective. Under Donald Trump, the US has quickly moved to ban all 'destructive and life-altering procedures' associated with transitioning children. Some 27 states have enacted laws that ban or restrict gender‑affirming care for minors. But puberty blockers are still available in many others. 'Several developed countries have recently diverged from the US in the way they treat gender dysphoria in children,' the letter reads. 'The United Kingdom, Sweden, and Finland have recently issued restrictions on medical interventions for children, including the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments. 'In particular, the Cass Review, an independent review of the evidence in the United Kingdom, noted that despite the considerable research in the field of gender dysphoria in children, 'systematic evidence reviews demonstrated the poor quality of the published studies, meaning there is not a reliable evidence base upon which to make clinical decisions, or for children and their families to make informed choices.'' Led by Dr Hilary Cass, the review was prompted by concerns about the high rate of young people being referred to the Tavistock gender clinic in London, which referred children as young as 10 for treatment with puberty blockers. The final review, released in April 2024, concluded that too many children were being pushed towards medication with not enough mental health care. Dr Cass recommended that the most important treatment for the majority of children should be talking therapies instead of irreversible medical treatments such as puberty blockers. The letter went on to imply Britain is more effective in upholding the US government's commitment to 'do no harm to America's children'. 'In recent years, medical interventions for gender dysphoria in children have proliferated,' the letter added. 'These interventions include surgical procedures that attempt to transform an individual's physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex or that attempt, for purposes of treating gender dysphoria, to alter or remove an individual's sexual organs to minimise or destroy their natural biological functions.' The letter also said medical interventions for gender dysphoria in children have 'proliferated' in America and the Cass Review, which is rumoured to be backed by Mr Trump, could be used by states to reduce cases. The move is a rare example of British policy influencing American direction under Mr Trump, who moved to ban puberty blockers almost immediately upon arriving in the White House. His administration has largely been critical of Britain's policies, repeatedly raising concerns about free speech. In May, The Telegraph revealed the president had sent a delegation to meet British anti-abortion activists who say their freedom of expression has been threatened. A five-person team from the US State Department spent several days in the country and interviewed campaigners. Trump has intervened on transgender issues Trans activists have long fought to retain puberty blockers as a treatment option for children with gender dysphoria. Democratic attorneys general in Washington, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration over its plans to pull funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming care. The US president has signed a number of executive orders targeting transgender people, claiming that it is a radical ideology driven to 'deny the biological reality of sex'. In January, he signed an order that aimed to restrict gender-affirming treatments for all young people below the age of 19 by asking federal agencies to stop endorsing interventions such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery for minors. In July 2024, The Integrity Project at Yale Law School released a white paper which said the Cass Review had 'serious flaws'. It suggested that the review 'levies unsupported assertions about gender identity, gender dysphoria, standard practices, and safety of gender-affirming medical treatments'. The white paper concluded that the review 'is not an authoritative guideline or standard of care, nor is it an accurate restatement of the available medical evidence on the treatment of gender dysphoria'.
Fox News
10-06-2025
- Health
- Fox News
First-known puberty blocker patient says 'insulting' youth gender movement makes mockery of true dysphoria
The first known patient to take puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria sharply rebuked the modern youth gender identity movement as "insulting" in a podcast interview with the New York Times published last week. The Times spoke with "FG," a patient in adolescent transgender medicine from the Netherlands, who was the first known person given puberty blockers at 13years-old in the 1980s to stop female development. "FG" explained dealing with anger issues as a child and feeling uncomfortable living as a girl. The fear of going through puberty led the teen to express suicidal thoughts in a letter and eventually seek out medical treatment to stop normal development, as well as cross-sex hormones and gender reassignment surgery later on. Now, living as a man decades later with no regrets, "FG" believes puberty blockers "saved my life." Despite being a proponent of these medical interventions, "FG" was not supportive of the modern gender diversity movement. "So many of the young people now want to visibly challenge the binary," New York Times reporter Azeen Ghorayshi told "FG," asking, "What do you make of that? And what do you make of what that means for getting the medical treatment that you pioneered?" "I find that it's gone — it's gone a bit extreme to the other side," "FG" replied. "So it makes a laughingstock of what it's really about. Or at least, it seems to be a fashion statement nowadays." "FG" equated the current gender climate to other youth rebellion movements of the past where young people forged their identities "to stand out," saying gender seemed to be another forum for that today. "And for the group that is pure, like proper transsexuals, this flirting with pronouns and gender identity — it's insulting," "FG" continued. "FG", who works in the medical field and asked to stay anonymous out of a desperate desire to fit in as a man, said it seemed like young people now treat their gender identity as a fad. "Because like I said, we spend all our time trying to just fit in or be able to live the life that we feel we should have had. And it's not a great help when you've got people shouting from the barricades and trying to give you a different position, a third sex or whatever, and then talk about things that we don't want you to talk about, so that they can identify you," "FG" added. "I don't take a lot of these people that seriously, because it does seem to be a bit of a fashion statement." Shortly after taking office for his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order cutting off federal funding for institutions who engage in "chemical and surgical" sex-change procedures for minors. "Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child's sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions," the order, titled "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," states. "This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation's history, and it must end." A number of hospitals nationwide challenged the order earlier this year, with some vowing to continue providing these medical interventions for minors.
