ACLU sues Tennessee over ban on gender-affirming care for minors
The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocates have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee over the state's controversial ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, the organization announced Thursday.
The suit was filed on behalf of three Tennessee families — Nashville residents Samantha and Brian Williams and their 15-year-old transgender daughter L.W.; Rebecca Roe and her 15-year-old son Ryan; and anonymous parents of a 12-year-old son. The plaintiffs also include Memphis-based Dr. Susan Lacy, who provides gender-affirming care for her patients.
Gov. Bill Lee last month signed into law the state's total ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender children, despite threats of lawsuits and pushback from major medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which support gender transition health care as evidence-based medicine.
Related: Gov. Bill Lee signs ban on gender-affirming care for minors, drag restrictions into law
The law bans medications such as puberty blockers and hormone treatments for children who identify as transgender or nonbinary. Surgeries are also banned, though they are rare in Tennessee. The law goes into effect in July, while children who currently take medications will have until March 31, 2024 to cycle off the treatment.
In the lawsuit, the families of transgender children say they would be forced to leave the state to continue receiving what they say is life-saving health care.
Samantha Williams said her daughter, L.W., struggled with constant anxiety from gender dysphoria that she feared would grow worse as she went into male puberty. The family at the recommendation of L.W.'s pediatrician and therapist met with a team of doctors at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in 2021. They opted to start puberty-delaying medications for L.W. after a series of tests and discussing the risks and possible side effects.
Related: Tennessee legislature passes ban on gender-transition health care for minors
She said her daughter is now happy and thriving, and her mental health has improved.
“I am so afraid of what this law will mean for her," Samantha Williams said in a statement. "We don’t want to leave Tennessee, but this legislation would force us to either routinely leave our state to get our daughter the medical care she desperately needs or to uproot our entire lives and leave Tennessee altogether. No family should have to make this kind of choice.”
State lawmakers who supported the ban said it protects children who lack the maturity to make "life-altering" medical decisions before they become adults.
The ACLU, however, argues that the ban violates the constitutional rights of adolescents and their parents and will cause severe and irreparable harm.
L.W. in a statement said she wants the law to be struck down so that she can have the freedom to live her life. The teen has been taking her medication for almost two years and is scared that her body will undergo unwanted, permanent changes if the ban is enforced, according to the lawsuit.
“I don’t even want to think about having to go back to the dark place I was in before I was able to come out and access the care that my doctors have prescribed for me,” she said.
The suit names Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, along with the Tennessee Department of Health and other state defendants. Elizabeth Lane, a spokesperson for Skrmetti, said the office has not yet been served with the lawsuit but looks forward to reviewing the complaint.
"Mounting evidence has persuaded a growing number of countries that irreversible medical interventions are not appropriate for kids showing symptoms of gender dysphoria," she said in a statement. "The Tennessee General Assembly passed a law to protect Tennessee children from the lifelong consequences of these interventions, and we will vigorously defend that law."
The lawsuit asks a judge to declare that the ban violates the plaintiff's rights to due process and equal protection under the law. The suit also seeks an injunction to prevent the state from enforcing the ban.
“Families of transgender youth, like every family, do everything they can to love and support their children and keep them safe," Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, ACLU-TN staff attorney, said in a statement. "They spend years discussing gender-affirming care with medical professionals and only proceed when such care is medically necessary. For them, it’s not about politics – it’s about the freedom to access vital, life-saving healthcare for their families."
Dr. James McKenzie, a Nashville psychiatrist who treats children with gender dysphoria, said the state law is not in line with the standard of care and the recommendations of major medical organizations in the U.S.
“For the population of patients who deal with this, they’ve got among the highest risk of suicide of any psychiatric patients,” McKenzie said. “So any law that’s going to limit the treatment available to help them runs the risk of increasing the suicide rate for kids in Tennessee.”
Melissa Brown and Frank Gluck contributed to the report.
Reach Kelly Puente at kpuente@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: ACLU sues Tennessee over ban on gender-affirming care for minors
