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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
In a landmark decision yesterday, the Supreme Court decided to uphold Tennessee’s ban on so-called “gender-affirming” medical treatment for minors.
The decision was split along political lines, the majority of six conservative justices upholding the state ban and the three liberals on the bench dissenting. The June 18th ruling is one of the court’s biggest cases for 2025.
“Landmark VICTORY for Tennessee at SCOTUS in defense of America’s children!” wrote Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti in a social media post.
Tennessee’s law ended up getting to the Supreme Court before any other similar law from another state. With the ruling in United States v. Skrmetti, finding that the state’s 2023 law is subject to the lowest level of judicial scrutiny, similar laws in other states are now less likely to be overturned.
Backed by the Biden administration, plaintiffs in the case argued that preventing minors from being prescribed puberty blockers and hormone treatments violated the equal protection act of the 14th Amendment by discriminating against transgender people.
The Supreme Court disagreed as Tennessee’s law only removes the diagnosis of gender dysphoria as being eligible to be treated with gender-affirming drugs. The law does not specifically exclude transgender people from treatment if they have other medical reasons to receive this type of medical care, such as a congenital defect, precocious puberty, disease, or physical injury.
When Tennessee passed the “Prohibition on Medical Procedures Performed on Minors Related to Sexual Identity Act” in 2023, it joined a growing number of states seeking to restrict the treatment of minors for sex transitions. Along with prohibiting the use of puberty blockers and cross sex hormones for children and teens under the age of 18, the legislation outlaws “gender-affirming” surgery with the sole purpose of enabling the minor to live as the opposite sex as a result of gender dysphoria.
Before the law could go into effect on July 1st, Judge Eli Richardson of the 5th Federal Circuit issued a partial injunction.
Tennessee is just one of a number of states who have taken steps to limit access to this kind of medical treatment, with that number growing from four to about half of the states in the U.S. since 2022. When challenged, district courts have mostly blocked enforcement with only three appeals courts reversing these stays.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the first to vote to reverse Richardson’s stay on Tennessee’s new law.
Two of the three judges, Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton and Judge Amul Thapar, voted to reinstate the law on July 11th.
Chief Justice John Roberts, in writing for the majority, said the law’s application “does not turn on sex” and does not exclude individuals from receiving medical treatment on the basis of “transgender status” but divides minors into two groups: those who are seeking gender-affirming drugs to treat gender dysphoria, and those seeking these treatments for other conditions.
“While the first group includes only transgender individuals, the second encompasses both transgender and nontransgender individuals,” wrote Roberts.
“Tennessee determined that administering puberty blockers or hormones to minors to treat gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, or gender incongruence carries risks, including irreversible sterility, increased risk of disease and illness, and adverse psychological consequences. The legislature found that minors lack the maturity to fully understand these consequences, that many individuals have expressed regret for undergoing such treatments as minors, and that the full effects of such treatments may not yet be known. At the same time, the State noted evidence that discordance between sex and gender can be resolved through less invasive approaches,” wrote Roberts.
The number of youth suffering from gender dysphoria has skyrocketed over the last 20 years. Once an extremely rare diagnosis, it became so commonplace that at least 100 clinics in the United States opened to provide treatments for young people wanting to pass as the opposite sex.
Now with states seeking to ban such treatment, clinics closing, more young people coming forward who have “de-transitioned” and the support of President Trump’s executive order putting an end to the federal support of sex changes for minors, the future of the transgender medical industry is on shaky ground.
While every major medical organization in the U.S., including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association, supports “gender-affirming” care for minors, European countries have started to backpedal on what was once considered standard practice, a fact that the Supreme Court recognized and took into account in their decision.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
