The Supreme Court appears likely to uphold a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth as it hears a major case. NBC Chicago’s Courtney Sisk reports.
Tennessee is not the only state with bans for kids to have gender-affirming care, but it is in the spotlight as the Supreme Court takes up a new case that could have massive impacts around the U.S.
Tennessee barred gender-affirming care methods for minors like puberty blockers and hormone therapy in 2023. Now, three trans kids and their parents are challenging the law, arguing it violates the 14th Amendment, discriminating on the basis of sex.
Advocacy groups in Illinois are sounding the alarm, saying they believe this would be the start of a greater pushback against the trans community as a whole.
"For me I know it’s deeper than children. We know it’s a bigger concept than that, that’s just the low hanging fruit is transgender kids," said Zahara Bassett, the founder of Life is Work.
Bassett started using gender-affirming methods at 17-years-old after a lifetime of feeling she was meant to be a woman.
"It was crucial for me because I always identified as a woman, felt like a little girl, I had bruises on my chin to prove it from me falling in my grandmother’s heels when I was 5 years old," she said.
While Illinois has several laws protecting trans care, advocates are still fearful for the potential of a national ban, and what a Supreme Court decision against them could mean for state-level court case rulings in the future.
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"These bans are cruel," said ACLU of Illinois' Ameri Klafetam. "Like all families, parents of transgender youth want what’s best for their children.”
Several justices seemed skeptical Wednesday, appearing to side with Tennessee's ban.
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Justice Brett Kavanaugh and others pointed to European countries who have started to pump the brakes on treatment due to lack of evidence that puberty blockers help with gender dysphoria.
“Our position is that it is careless, it is unethical, and it is harmful and needs to be stopped," said Shannon Adcock, the founder of Awake Illinois, a non profit organization advocating against gender-affirming care for kids.
"They should have until they are in their adult time, until they have grown and gone through puberty to pursue any number of options that they want to as adults," she said.
The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Their decision is expected by the end of their term in June.
Roughly half the states in the U.S., 24 in all, currently have bans similar to Tennessee's.
