Biden Admin Files Lawsuit Challenging Tennessee Ban on Transgender Procedures for Minors

DOJ Challenges Tennessee Law Banning Transgender Medical Procedures for Children

The Department of Justice is taking on Tennessee’s newly-enacted law that bans transgender medical procedures for children. The DOJ argues that the legislation violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. In a press release, the DOJ also requested an immediate order to stop the law from going into effect on its scheduled date of July 1.

What is Senate Bill 1?

Signed into law by Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee on March 2, Senate Bill 1 bans health providers from performing medical procedures on minors for the purpose of either “enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex” or “treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity.” The law also prohibits health care providers from prescribing hormone treatments and puberty blockers to aid in gender transition.

• Minors cannot be held accountable for receiving the care.
• Tennessee’s attorney general can fine health care providers up to $25,000 if they are found to violate the law.
• The legislation contains exceptions in some cases, such as when the treatment is needed for a child’s congenital defect, disease, or physical injury, or if the medical procedure on the minor had already begun prior to the law going into effect.

Why Did Tennessee Pass Senate Bill 1?

Republican lawmakers in the state argued that the legislation was needed to protect the health and welfare of children. They noted that gender-altering procedures could lead to children becoming irreversibly sterile, at increased risk of disease and illness, or suffering from adverse and sometimes fatal psychological consequences. Tennessee lawmakers also said they believe such procedures are “experimental in nature and not supported by high-quality, long-term medical studies.”

What Does the DOJ Say?

The DOJ argues that the legislation would make it illegal for health care professionals to provide “certain types of medical care for transgender minors with diagnosed gender dysphoria.” Gender dysphoria is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as “psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity.”

• The DOJ alleges that the bill discriminates against transgender youth and violates the Equal Protection Clause by “discriminating on the basis of both sex and transgender status.”
• The DOJ argues that the blanket ban on “gender-affirming care” contradicts recommendations by major medical associations such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association, who have all voiced support for gender transitioning among minors, arguing that it is safe and effective and in some cases lifesaving owing to the “increased risk of suicide in this population.”

What’s Next?

The DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division said, “No person should be denied access to necessary medical care just because of their transgender status. The right to consider your health and medically-approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right that everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks.”

The lawsuit is the latest example of the ongoing debate over transgender rights and the role of government in regulating medical procedures for minors.