{"id":922829,"date":"2024-12-04T13:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T18:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/?p=922829"},"modified":"2025-01-31T14:37:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T19:37:30","slug":"fact-sheet-landmark-supreme-court-case-challenging-tennessee-transgender-health-care-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/fact-sheet-landmark-supreme-court-case-challenging-tennessee-transgender-health-care-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact Sheet: Landmark Supreme Court Case Challenging Tennessee Transgender Health Care Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted: November 11, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument on Dec. 4 in a landmark case regarding a Tennessee law banning health care for transgender youth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The case, <\/span>U.S. v. Skrmetti,<\/span><\/i><\/a> challenges Tennessee’s law banning health care such as hormone therapy and puberty-pausing medications for transgender youth under 18, while the same treatments remain available to non-transgender youth. The law also criminalizes doctors and providers who seek to support transgender youth seeking care. As the ban is one of approximately 25 such bans passed in Republican-controlled legislatures around the country in recent years, the Court\u2019s decision could have widespread impact on the availability of care to all youth nationwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s ban forced transgender youth who were previously receiving treatment to end that care. Transgender teenagers in the state may now be forced to detransition and\/or undergo the onset of unwanted physical effects of puberty that may be difficult to later reverse.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>plaintiffs<\/span><\/a> in the case include Samanth<\/span>a and Brian Williams of Nashville, Tennessee and their 16-year-old transgender daughter, two anonymous other families, and Memphis-based medical doctor Dr. Susan Lacy. An openly transgender attorney will present to the justices for the first time in Court history: <\/span>Chase Strangio<\/span><\/a>, co-director of the American Civil Liberties Union\u2019s LGBTQ & HIV Project.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 30 friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the plaintiffs were submitted by 20 states; the <\/span>American Bar Association<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>NAACP Legal Defense Fund<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>National Women\u2019s Law Center<\/span><\/a> and other legal scholars and groups; the <\/span>American Academy of Pediatrics<\/span><\/a> and other national and state medical and mental health associations; national and state LGBTQ and civil rights organizations; clinicians, researchers, and experts with nearly 90 years\u2019 collective experience in treating more than 4800 transgender youth; transgender <\/span>people<\/span><\/a> sharing their personal stories; 164 members of Congress; and <\/span>more than 30<\/span><\/a> Republican elected officials and conservative leaders. Opposition briefs have been filed by longtime opponents of LGBTQ people and equality, including <\/span>Alliance Defending Freedom<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>American Family Association<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>American College of Pediatrics<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>American Principles Project<\/span><\/a>. Tennessee\u2019s attorney general argued that the Supreme Court should<\/span> expand on its ruling overturning <\/span>Roe v. Wade<\/span><\/i><\/a> in order to remove decisionmaking from transgender people about their health care.<\/span><\/p>\n

FAST FACTS<\/b><\/p>\n