NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In a rare moment for Tennessee law, the Supreme Court of the United States justices heard arguments about legislation that now prohibits minors from seeking transgender care.
The issue in the Tennessee case is whether the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same. Lawmakers wrote the bill in 2023 to ban puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors.
The decision probably won't come down until the summer term in 2025.
We are following the arguments as they are had before the SCOTUS this morning. Tennessee lawmakers, Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti all attended the hearing and will speak.
Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, sponsored the original legislation.
“Today marks a pivotal moment in Tennessee and our country’s history," Johnson said. "The Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments for a first-of-its-kind case that shows every state in the country what it really looks like to stand up for children. At its core, Senate Bill 1 is about protecting the innocence of children and ensuring we are propping them up for a successful future."
Those from the Tennessee Equality Project are also there.
Tennessee is pointing to health authorities in Sweden, Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom that found that the medical treatments "pose significant risks with unproven benefits."
"We are here defending Tennessee’s law protecting children from irreversible and unproven gender transition procedures,” said Tennessee AG Skrmetti said. "Tennessee’s General Assembly reviewed the medical evidence, as well as the evidence-based decisions of European countries that restricted these procedures, and ultimately passed this bipartisan law prohibiting irreversible medical interventions. The plaintiffs in this case are asking the Court to take the power to regulate the practice of medicine away from the people’s elected representatives and vest it in unaccountable judges."
Researchers with The Journal of the American Medical Association found in a recent study that gender-affirming care for transgender youth aged 13 to 20 years old is associated with 60% lower odds of moderate or severe depression and 73% lower odds of suicidality over a 12-month follow-up period. This care includes puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones.
Gender-affirming care for youth is supported by every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association.
How we got here
Two rallies surrounding gender-affirming care merged into one in downtown Nashville one fall evening in 2022.
This all came after conservative blogger Matt Walsh took issue with gender-affirmation care procedures at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Walsh — a Daily Wire conservative commentator, who questions LGBTQ rights — said he considered the care to be that of castration and mutilation to minors and adults.
The rallies — one sponsored by Walsh and the other standing up against his principles about transgender care — were on the legislative plaza outside the capitol. The Tennessee Highway Patrol estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people were on the plaza.
A standing-room crowd reached capacity inside the committee room in the Cordell Hull building before NewsChannel 5 could even get our camera inside.
Republicans sponsored a bill that would ban gender-affirming surgeries for children in the state of Tennessee.
Tennessee lawmakers made their way into the discourse of gender-affirming care and minors in September after a conservative blogger questioned whether Vanderbilt University Medical Center should provide gender-affirming care to patients.
Sen. Majority Leader Jack Johnson, who sponsored the bill, said the state has compelling interests to protect children in Tennessee. He said that once a child becomes an adult, that child can then make that decision to transition. A representative from the ACLU-Tennessee said the bill if passed would force litigation.
The legislation passed.
A lawsuit followed all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Court filings recently revealed that Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti opened an investigation last year into VUMC's Clinic for Transgender Health, issuing three separate civil investigative demands ordering the clinic to turn over its records.
Those billing issues, he explained, were discovered in the 2019 video posted online showing clinic founder Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor openly talked about how she gets around so-called “documentation challenges.”
Such challenges, Dr. Taylor said, can arise when insurance companies will not pay for transgender care.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at emily.west@newschannel5.com and chris.davis@newschannel5.com.
In this time of NIL deals and transfer portals, this is a refreshing story about the best of college athletics. A must watch for all young athletes with big dreams. I already showed my boys, and I can tell you Jack has some new fans!
-Carrie Sharp
