Kentucky gender-affirming care restriction BLOCKED by federal judge, ensures temporary access to care for trans youth

by Belle Townsend she/they
[email protected]

Named one of the most extreme anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the nation, the gender-affirming care component of the omnibus anti-trans bill SB 150 has been TEMPORARILY BLOCKED by a federal judge. This means that gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth has been at least temporarily found unconstitutional and a continuum of care can be provided for youth needing gender-affirming healthcare. As reported on by Olivia Krauth, “U.S. District Judge David Hale sided with the ACLU of Kentucky on Wednesday in issuing the temporary injunction, keeping puberty blockers and hormone therapy legal and accessible to those under 18 in Kentucky while a larger lawsuit plays out.”

This temporary block has come after a tremendous outcry from the young people of Kentucky, who have organized by the thousands in the past few months all across Kentucky, but namely at Kentucky’s state capitol. Governor Andy Beshear originally vetoed the omnibus anti-trans bill, which was at the last minute compiled from multiple anti-LGBTQ+ bills with regulations on bathrooms, pronoun usage, healthcare access, and general existence of queer Kentuckians. The veto was overturned by the majority-Republican legislature. This bill was 1 of the 491+ anti-LGBTQ+ laws being pushed across the nation in what has been a record-shattering number of legislative attacks on queer existence.

The ACLU of Kentucky, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and law firm Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius filed a lawsuit in May, contending that SB 150 singles out trans kids by blocking access to medical care that cisgender kids are able to access. On behalf of the transgender children and their parents, this lawsuit further contends that this bill is an encroachment on the relationship between a parent, their child, and their doctor. This further contributes to the idea that this bill attacks the parental right to make medical decisions for their children, who are legally under their care.

Judge Hale wrote that “the court finds that the treatments barred by SB 150 are medically appropriate and necessary for some transgender children under the evidence-based standard of care accepted by all major medical organizations in the United States.”

As outlined by the Trans Health Project, “Leading medical groups recognize the medical necessity of treatments for gender dysphoria and endorse such treatments.” In testimonies on HB 470, the gender-affirming care bill that was morphed into the omnibus anti-LGBTQ+ bill SB 150, people such as Andre Van Mol testified. From the misleading titles that imply credibility of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations and American College of Pediatricians, Van Mol is one of many “experts” who have been exposed in a series of published emails between hate groups and politicians. In these emails publicized in an article by Mother Jones, they discuss crafting anti-trans language to reframe medical truth and ways to criminalize doctors who uphold their oath to do no harm and serve trans youth. 

Hale further addresses that puberty blockers and hormones “have a long history of safe use in minors for various conditions,” pointing to the truth that it is not only transgender youth who need this care, but also intersex and cisgender youth. In demonizing trans youth, it is often forgotten that gender-affirming healthcare does not just serve them.

These bans that have swept the nation are being swiftly met with legal challenges of unconstitutionality,  from Indiana, to Arkansas, to Florida, and now Kentucky. It’s been made clear that trans youth are the moral catalyst for upcoming elections, but it’s been made even more clear that queer youth, their parents, and the legal system aren’t having it.