The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a petition for divided argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti, the federal challenge to Tennessee’s law prohibiting doctors from prescribing treatments for gender dysphoria to transgender youth.
The court previously agreed in June to take up the case, as well as its companion case, L.W. v. Skrmetti, during the 2024-2025 court session.
The outcome of the case will likely determine the fate of similar laws in 23 other states, where Republican lawmakers have sought to criminalize the provision of gender-affirming care, like puberty blockers or hormones, to transgender youth to help them transition and assuage their feelings of gender dysphoria.
Two other states — Arizona and New Hampshire — have only banned surgical interventions on minors. Oral arguments in the case have been set for December 4, 2024.
A federal judge initially blocked the law from taking effect, but Tennessee appealed the ruling and asked that it be reversed. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently lifted that injunction, thereby allowing the law to take effect. A few months later, the 6th Circuit rejected a separate request seeking to block enforcement of the law.
The Justice Department intervened, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 6th Circuit’s rationale for the decision, in hopes of reversing it.
The plaintiffs in the original L.W. v. Skrmetti lawsuit challenging the ban — three families with transgender children and a Memphis-based doctor — are being represented by a coalition of legal organizations and firms, including Lambda Legal, the AmericanCivilLibertiesUnion, the ACLU of Tennessee, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs recently petitioned the court for divided argument, enabling them to split time with the U.S. Department of Justice in arguing for the ban to be overturned. On October 21, the court granted that request.
As a result, Chase Strangio, the co-director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, will now appear before the high court to argue for overturning the Tennessee ban — and others like it — on behalf of his clients, with those arguments becoming part of the case’s official record.
Strangio’s appearance will make him the first out transgender person to argue a case before the prestigious legal body.
Strangio is the leading U.S. legal expert on transgender rights, ACLU Legal Director Cecillia Wang told Reuters.
“He brings to the lectern not only brilliant constitutional lawyering, but also the tenacity and heart of a civil rights champion,” Wang said.
Recently released data from a national survey of transgender and nonbinary individuals reveals that detransitioning is not as common as opponents of transgender rights assert, and that the overwhelming reason for detransitioning is rooted in social stigma and lack of support.
Recently released data from a national survey of transgender and nonbinary individuals finds that detransitioning is far less common than anti-trans activists claim. When it does happen, it’s largely due to external pressures like stigma and lack of support, not regret over transitioning.
The U.S. Department of Justice says it has sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics allegedly providing gender-affirming health care to minors, as part of an investigation into accusations of "healthcare fraud" and "false statements." In a press release, the department said it is targeting medical professionals allegedly "involved in performing transgender medical procedures on children."
"Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice," U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
Back for its third edition as the premier documentary film festival in the nation's capital, DC/DOX is set to unreel 59 features and 35 shorts from 25 countries over four days in June.
"This year's DC/DOX lineup is a powerful reminder of documentary film's unique ability to illuminate the world around us -- its beauty, its heartbreak, and its complexity," said DC/DOX co-founder and festival director Sky Sitney in a statement.
Indeed, the beauty, heartbreak, and complexity of real life are brilliantly captured in films like Kim A. Snyder's The Librarians, about courageous librarians and educators standing up and fighting back against the ultra-conservative book bans sweeping states and school districts nationwide.
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