FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth may go into effect — at least for now — after a federal appeals court temporarily overturned Saturday a decision of a lower court.
Late last month, a Tennessee District Court judge ruled that the state’s new law banning transgender therapies like hormone blockers and surgeries for transgender youth was unconstitutional because it discriminates on the basis of gender. . The judge blocked the entry into force of large parts of the law.
On Saturday, however, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati granted an emergency appeal from Tennessee. In a 2-1 decision, the majority wrote that decisions on emerging policy issues such as transgender care are generally best left to legislatures rather than judges.
“Given the high stakes of these nascent political deliberations — the long-term health of children facing gender dysphoria — good government generally benefits from more debate than less,” wrote Chief Justice Jeffrey Sutton, appointed by former President George W. Bush.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti welcomed the decision, saying the ban can now be fully enforced. “The case is far from over, but this is a big win,” he said in a statement.
The decision is preliminary and only remains in effect until the Court of Appeal conducts a full review of the appeal. Sutton wrote that the appeal process will be expedited, with the goal of resolving the case by September 30.
Tennessee is one of several states nationwide that recently enacted bans on gender-affirming care for minors. Federal judges in Arkansas, Indiana and Kentucky also overturned those states’ bans.
Sutton acknowledged that other judges have ruled differently.
“We value their insights and they make us think,” he wrote. “But they don’t eliminate our doubts.”
Joining White’s decision was Judge Amul Thapar, appointed by former President Donald Trump. A third judge, Helene White, partly dissented and partly agreed.
White – who was first nominated by former President Bill Clinton and later nominated by Bush – said she thought the Tennessee law was likely unconstitutional, but said she would not have enforced her statewide decision, as the district court did. She said she would have limited her decision to apply only to the nine plaintiffs who filed the complaint and to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where some of the plaintiffs had sought treatment.
“I fail to see how the state can justify denying access to hormone therapies for the treatment of gender dysphoria to minor claimants while allowing access to others, particularly in light of the strong factual findings of the district court on the benefits of these treatments for transgender youth,” White wrote.
Gillian Branstetter, spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Sixth Circuit is the first federal circuit to allow a ban on transgender health care for minors to take effect. The Sixth Circuit covers Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky.
The federal government has also filed its own challenge to the Tennessee law.
Tennessee law prohibits health care providers from offering hormone treatments or surgeries to transgender youth for the purpose of allowing the child to express a gender identity “incompatible with the immutable characteristics of the reproductive system that define the minor as a man or a woman”.
Tennessee’s Republican-dominated General Assembly, along with some Democratic lawmakers, passed the law after Vanderbilt University Medical Center was accused of opening its transgender health clinic because it was profitable. Videos have surfaced of a doctor touting gender affirmation procedures as “huge money-makers”. Another video showed a staff member saying anyone with a religious objection should quit.