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.
Charles Moran, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans, penned an editorial in Newsweek slamming the Democratic presidential ticket as the "wrong choice" for LGBTQ Americans.
The leader of the nation's gay Republican group attacks Democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as extreme and beholden to the interests of left-wing interest groups.
"Their agenda goes far beyond what our community has sought for decades, which is equality for LGBT Americans under the law," Moran writes. "In reality, Harris and Walz are crusaders for a small but powerful cabal of the LGBT Left which wants to erase the concept of biological sex from society, expose young children to overtly sexualized and ideological content, and strip parents of their rights to make critical decisions about their children."
A drag queen featured in a Trump attack ad against Kamala Harris is considering filing a lawsuit against the former president's campaign for using her image without permission.
As Metro Weekly previously reported, the ad attacks Harris for supporting gender-affirming care to transgender prisoners. It features clips and photos of Harris interspersed with interviews she's given, pictures of Biden administration officials, and a video of her posing for a photo with a drag queen during a 2022 Pride Month event.
The spot is intended to sway Americans uncomfortable with gender nonconformity and transgender visibility into voting for former President Donald Trump.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Mary Kathleen Costello to serve as a district court judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, making her the 12th LGBTQ judicial nominee to be seated.
The September 17 vote on Costello's nomination sets a record for the Biden administration for having nominated the most LGBTQ judges who were confirmed in history.
It breaks the previous record of 11, held by former President Barack Obama. Costello will be the second openly LGBTQ lifetime judge to serve in Pennsylvania and the second to serve anywhere within the 3rd Circuit.
The Senate voted 52-41 along largely party lines, with 45 Democrats, as well as independent Sens. Angus King (Maine), Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), and Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Mitt Romney (Utah) voting to back Costello.
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