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Will SCOTUS Let Parents and Doctors Support Trans Kids?
The case over youth gender-affirming care: United States vs. Skrmetti
In March 2023, Tennessee banned gender-affirming care for minors through a law called Senate Bill 1 (S.B.1). On behalf of three trans kids, the ACLU unsuccessfully sued and then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court case is called United States v. Skrmetti. Oral arguments began two days ago.
One of the questions is:
Sex is a protected characteristic under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But is gender?
M. Gessen’s opinion for the New York Times today is: “The Supreme Court Just Showed Us What Contempt for Expertise Looks Like.”
Gessen, who attended the Supreme Court hearing this week, gives this background:
The ACLU previously argued that Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care violates “due process, by overriding the decisions parents make about their children’s medical care.” The ban amounts to government interference with a private decision between parents, kids, and doctors.
However, the Supreme Court didn’t agree to hear that argument. “So,” Gessen says, “by the time the case got to the Supreme Court, the stories of the people who…
