Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Tennessee’s ban on gender maintenance care for transgender minors does not violate the federal constitution. State Court Report We spoke with D-Dangaran, director of Gender Justice, rights behind the bar. USv. Skrmetti This means how the movement of trans rights and abortion is similar, and where the movement of trans rights goes from here. This interview has been compiled for brevity and clarity.
Please tell me about it scrmmet decision.
Threshold Questions scrmmet It was the standard of review that applies to equal protection claims brought about by young people challenging Tennessee laws prohibiting gender-affirming care. Specifically, it was hormone therapy, like an adolescent blocker.
The plaintiffs argued that the law should classify people based on gender and undergo enhanced scrutiny at the interim scrutiny level.
However, the majority of courts found that gender discomfort is not gender, but that gender bugs are lynchpin. The court said the law prohibits minors from giving minors therapy for certain medical uses, regardless of the gender of the minor.
Distinguishing based on gender dysphoria will only receive a reasonable basic review. That means that the plausible reasons the government has to create a classification of the problem are sufficient.
Applying a reasonable foundational view, the majority found that the law, including civil penalties for physicians who have decided to provide for gender-maintaining care, is permitted on the basis of the state of Tennessee’s provisions.
What is the actual impact of this ruling on trans children and trans people across the country?
According to the facts presented in this case, there are 3,000 trans young people in Tennessee. Perhaps there’s more to it, they just don’t fill in the investigation. These trans young people are currently unable to receive care for this medical use – treating gender discomfort. People need to seek care out of state.
Many studies have shown that healthcare banned by Tennessee reduces depression, anxiety, and suicide. The speed of calls for suicide prevention will skyrocket as states pass anti-trans laws, where youth and courts specifically target support such laws. But on the same day scrmmet The issued Trump administration said federal funding for the Trevor Project, one of the leading suicide hotlines for LGBQT youth, will be suspended in 30 days. Just hearing about this decision will cause trans and other strange young people to experience extreme pain. So, what worries me most is beyond Tennessee. This decision could increase the number of suicide cases.
That’s why many trans people feel like this kind of law. And the Supreme Court that allows it to stand is actually killing the trans community.
Is the impact of the ruling limited to trans youth?
no. That’s really important. Gender discomfort is an acceptable classification for refusing care, and therefore extends to adult health care.
This gives you a green light to ban insurance for gender discomfort or to completely prohibit the provision of gender discomfort care, even adults. There are already a few states that have started it. Alabama and Nebraska passed a law that states that people under the age of 19 cannot receive certain forms of gender-affirming care. That would be much more difficult –scrmmet Challenge a ban on medical care for people with gender discomfort.
What legal strategies should litigators challenging such a ban consider?
There are laws of hope like Tennessee, and can be successfully challenged under the Americans with Disabilities Act or the ADA. scrmmet It was able to actually help future ADA claims because of how clearly the courts said the law was discriminated against based on gender discomfort. Such laws are illegal under the ADA if the court accepts that gender discomfort is a disorder. While gender dysphoria discrimination may not provide equal protection, the overall point of the ADA is that it provides protection to areas where equal protection clauses do not reach. I think that could lead to movement.
Ironically, the judge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals who wrote the decision. scrmmet It was Jeffrey Sutton who went up to the Supreme Court. He wrote a book called 51 Incomplete Solutions. This points out that the state’s Supreme Court is not bound by following the federal constitution when interpreting the state’s constitution. Advocates should pose state constitutional challenges to these laws.
How can a state constitution be made in a way that provides protection beyond what the federal constitution does in this context?
Even if the language of the equal protection clause in the state constitution is a carbon copy of the 14th Amendment, the state has the right to interpret it in a different way than the Supreme Court. You can bring claims that just look like scrmmet However, based on the state constitution and the state Supreme Court, “We interpret the constitution. do not have Allow this type of discrimination. ”
The fight for marriage equality involves takeaways for trans rights. Advocates have won multiple state courts and say preventing same-sex marriage is discriminatory. By the time the federal government reached the U.S. Supreme Court, there was a blow of momentum in favor of marriage equality. The Supreme Court could see where it was the country.
While some state courts have had success in state courts challenging gender-affirming care bans, many of these cases have been brought to federal courts. We were able to benefit from a systematic state-by-state approach.
In addition to equal protection, there are other state constitutional provisions that can be applied to laws that distinguish trans people. For example, the right to privacy was closed by this Supreme Court. However, the constitutions of some states protect privacy or physical autonomy.
Do you think there are similarities between the movements to ensure abortion care and transcare?
The Supreme Court said dobbs That abortion ban was permitted, and now scrmmet The state can ban transhealth care. I am pleased to see a lot of solidarity between the reproductive justice movement and the trans rights movement. I think a lot of things bring the two together.
From a legal strategy perspective, supporters recognize that federal courts are not the place to pose challenges to laws discriminating against trans people. I think we’ll see more trans rights lawsuits in state courts, just as many reproductive rights lawsuits have been moved to state courts under the state constitution. But my big concern is that it happens for people living in red states where state courts are less willing to expand protections beyond what the federal constitution grants.
Many people, including lawyers, are more aware of the need to organize and carry out policy activities at a local level. The court system may not be the right place for us right now.
Transadvocacy communities can learn from people who are trying to get after they have an abortion –dobbs. This may include mutual aid networks to bring people from the state to receive care. The challenge of getting rid of hormone therapy from your condition is the need for follow-up appointments and labs. That way, busing people across state lines for transcare is more difficult than abortion care, which can usually be done in a single visit.
We’ve seen doctors being charged with women in states with abortion bans. That could happen to doctors dealing with trans youth in states that ban gender-affirming care. I hope more sanctuary cities and states pass Shield Act for Physicians providing care to patients outside of state. They exist in the context of abortion.
You represent incarcerated people seeking gender-affirming care behind the bar. Will this decision affect your clients?
yes. I have two clients. One is a trans woman and the other is a trans man. They were denied prison care, where CIS people can use equal protection debate to get medical care and have sought medical care.
I represented the other people at his facility – he is housed with a woman with CIS – who said he could have had a mastectomy to treat breast cancer. Of course, cancer is not the same as gender discomfort. However, they also managed to undergo post-mastectomy breast enhancement surgery. Breast augmentation is no longer a treatment for breast cancer. They don’t feel comfortable in their breastless bodies, so they’re just helping them feel the whole thing. My client said, “I have the same need. I don’t feel the whole thing in my body. I need to get rid of my breasts like I do.”
One of my cases is in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. I could imagine the court saying there was absolutely no hope for an equal protection argument for adults seeking gender-affirming surgery.
How do you move forward after such a retreat?
I am grateful to the trans community. I recently felt that the idea that this community endures has risen. We held in search of joy. We’re doing this. Because we have a self-awareness and awareness of being open to ourselves and others about how we and others actually feel about our bodies.
And the autonomy of the body and the release of the body are so beautiful and exciting. These “culture wars” for me are the continuous colonization of how others live, from the hegemonic power sources of white Christianity to others. There is a coalition built to resist it.
Suggested citation: Kathrina (Kasia) Szymborski Wolfkot (interview with D Dangaran), Considerations on the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ban on gender-affirming care for trans youthsᴛᴀᴛᴇcᴏᴜʀᴛrᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ (June 25, 2025), https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/reflections-supreme-courts-decision-decision-germer-fifirming-care
