The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Thursday announced that it is filing a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee over what it calls an “attack” on transgender youth.
SB 1, recently passed the Tennessee Senate and subsequently enacted into law, bans doctors from child genital mutilation and giving harmful sex-change hormones and puberty blockers to children, the former of which often cannot be reversed.
In conjunction with its legal partners in the state, the ACLU has filed the suit on behalf of Samantha Williams, the parent of a transgender youth.
According to the lawsuit:
If the Health Care Ban goes into effect, it will have devastating consequences for transgender youth and their families in Tennessee. Transgender adolescents with gender dysphoria will be unable to obtain medical care that those who understand their medical needs—their doctors and parents—agree is medically necessary. Untreated gender dysphoria is associated with severe harm including anxiety, depression, and suicidality. Cutting vulnerable adolescents off from treatment or withholding necessary care will inevitably cause significant harm.
Despite the claim that such medical procedures are necessary for preventing suicides, research has shown that the suicide rate among transgender people increases after sex change operations.
Still, the ACLU is pressing forward.
“The attack that Tennessee legislators and the governor have launched against transgender youth and their families and providers is stunning in its cruelty,” said Sruti Swaminathan, a staff attorney at Lambda Legal, which is partnering with the ACLU on the suit. “They are actively ignoring the science, dismissing best-practice medical care, intervening in a parent’s right to care for and love their child, and explicitly exposing trans youth in Tennessee to rampant discrimination. This law is not just harmful and cruel, it is life-threatening.”
The ACLU describes child mutilation surgeries and puberty-blocking hormones as “gender affirming care,” and says that depriving children of such medical treatments is a safety issue, though it does not specify exactly how.
“Families of transgender youth, like every family, do everything they can to love and support their children and keep them safe. They spend years discussing gender-affirming care with medical professionals and only proceed when such care is medically necessary,” said Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, an ACLU-TN staff attorney.
They also called Tennessee’s Republican politicians “hateful” for protecting vulnerable children from irreversible medical procedures.
“The brave families filing this lawsuit are taking a stand for their transgender children despite being targeted by hateful politicians and media personalities,” Cameron-Vaughn said. “For them, it’s not about politics – it’s about the freedom to access vital, life-saving healthcare for their families. We are proud to be by their side and want all trans youth in Tennessee to know that we see them and will always defend their rights.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Photo “Surgery” by JAFAR AHMED.
