In recent weeks, several prominent anti-trans laws have been blocked by federal courts, underscoring how shaky the legal footing underlying them really is.
Parts of measures curbing gender-affirming care for trans youth in Kentucky and Tennessee were barred by federal judges on Wednesday, while provisions limiting gender-affirming care in Arkansas, Florida, and Indiana were struck down earlier in June.
“I think what [the Kentucky decision and that of other states] across the country are saying is that banning health care is unconstitutional,” said Angela Cooper, a spokesperson for ACLU of Kentucky, a group that helped challenge the state’s law. “Every medical organization agrees with us.”
In nearly all the recent cases, federal judges concurred, deeming the core tenets of the laws either outright unconstitutional or likely to be interpreted as such. In Kentucky and Tennessee, the judges also respectively went on to describe gender-affirming care as “medically appropriate and necessary” and noted that targeting trans youth amounted to “disparate treatment on the basis of sex.”
Many conservatives and their allies beg to differ, however, and it is likely these cases could ultimately end up at the Supreme Court.
These court cases come as Republicans across the country have homed in on anti-trans bills as a culture war issue that can be used to rally their base. Even as courts are stymieing existing bills, other legislatures, like those of North Carolina and Ohio, are still approving them.
Decisions like those in Kentucky and Tennessee, however, suggest those policies — if they become law — may also be successfully challenged in court, only further highlighting how, for many conservatives, the messaging around anti-trans bills is as important as the proposals themselves.
The Kentucky and Tennessee decisions send a message
The recent Kentucky and Tennessee decisions aren’t total victories for the trans community, but they do set…
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