Tag: transgender

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SCOTUS Sets Date for Tennessee Transgender Suit

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The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Dec. 4th in the case challenging Tennessee’s law banning gender-affirming care for minors brought by three young people and their families.

The state law — which took effect on July 1st of last year — bars Tennessee doctors and nurses from providing medical care — including puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries — to transgender people under 18.

Tennessee Republican lawmakers made passing the law their top priority during last year’s legislative session, giving it the honorary title of House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal and the private law firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, sued to stop the ban from going into effect on behalf of a 16-year-old transgender girl, who received puberty blockers and estrogen therapy; a 13-year-old transgender boy, who received puberty blockers; and a 16-year-old transgender boy, who received puberty blockers and testosterone therapy, along with their parents and a doctor who treats transgender patients.

A federal court in Tennessee initially blocked the law in April. But the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled that decision last year, allowing the law to go into effect while the Biden Administration appealed.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.

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Judge Allows TN Trans Bathroom Law to Stand

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A federal judge has dismissed a legal challenge to Tennessee’s so-called “bathroom law,” leaving in place rules that require public schools to bar transgender students from the gendered bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice.

The decision by U.S. District Judge William Campbell keeps in effect the “Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act,” signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee in 2021.

The law requires schools to offer “reasonable accommodation” to transgender students and school staff, but specifically excludes access to a multi-use restrooms or changing facilities.

It says students and staff must make formal requests for accommodation, such as to use a standalone restroom, and a principal must approve or deny the request in writing. And it gives parents and teachers the right to sue a school district for monetary damages if transgender students use a restroom or locker room that doesn’t conform with their gender at birth.

Critics have said the law discriminates against transgender kids and school employees, and forces individuals to out themselves to their peers.

The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization that served as legal counsel in the lawsuit, has not announced whether it plans to appeal the ruling, a spokesperson said Thursday.

Judge refuses to dismiss all claims by transgender child against state, Williamson County Schools

Eli Givens, a college sophomore and LGBTQ advocate with the Tennessee Equality Project, who is unconnected to the case, called the ruling “heart wrenching” and “terrifying” for trans kids and their parents.

“I had to miss out on classes frequently because I had to go to a bathroom on the other side of school,” said Givens, who came out as trans at age 11. “What do you do in a bathroom? You go in, use the restroom, wash your hands, and you leave.”

Parents of a third grade transgender student in Williamson County Schools first filed the legal challenge in 2022, arguing the law violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution and Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded programs.

Their child, who had been living as a girl since age six, was denied access to multi-occupancy restrooms and directed to a separate and unsanitary standalone restroom at a distance from her classroom.

The insistence that she use a separate restroom “isolates her and distinguishes her from her classmates and exacerbates the stress and anxiety she experiences while trying to fit in and avoid being stigmatized on the basis of her sex and gender identity,” the lawsuit said.

Campbell had previously shot down efforts by attorneys for Williamson County Schools and state education department to dismiss the lawsuit.

In his subsequent decision, issued September 4th, Campbell noted the legal landscape that has shifted since then.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, in separate decisions, has upheld two Tennessee laws aimed at transgender children and adults, including the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, he noted. The appeals court concluded gender identity is not recognized as a protected class. Under that standard set by the appeals court, Campbell said the lawsuit required a different analysis.

“Although Plaintiff identifies as a girl, the act prohibits her from using the facilities that correspond to her gender identity, while students who identify with their biological sex at birth are permitted to use such facilities,” Campbell wrote.

“However, the act and policy do not prefer one sex over the other, bestow benefits or burdens based on sex, or apply one rule for males and another for females,” the decision said.

Federal education officials have separately taken the position that Title IX protects transgender students access to facilities that conform with their gender identity.

In a separate and ongoing legal fight, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is leading a multi-state lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over its position.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.

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Court Rules to Uphold Tennessee Birth Certificate Policy

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The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that residents in Tennessee will not be allowed to change the gender on their birth certificate. Documents show the court ruled “there is no fundamental right to a birth certificate recording gender identity instead of biological sex.”

In the case of Gore v. Lee, Jeffrey S. Sutton, chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, stated that, in his opinion, while the state allows changes to birth certificates for cases such as adoption, sex is a “historical fact unchangeable by an individual’s transition to a different gender identity.”

The lawsuit regarding changes to gender markers on birth certificates in the state was originally dismissed in June 2023. The suit filed by Lambda Legal in 2019 was on behalf of four transgender people in the state — Kayla Gore, Jaime Combs, and “two plaintiffs identified by their initials, L.G. and K.N.”

“The plaintiffs allege that the certificates divulge their transgender status when they present their birth certificates for employment or when they apply for a passport,” the document said. “One of the plaintiffs, Kayla Gore, gave up on a job opportunity based on a fear of disclosure. All of the plaintiffs fear that ‘possessing a birth certificate that fails to reflect [their] female gender identity’ increases the risk that they will suffer ‘discrimination, distress, harassment, or violence.’”

As a result, the individuals asked for an amendment to allow citizens to “self-report” their gender identity, which the “district court rejected as a matter of law.”

The opinion stated that millions of children are born in the United States every year, and their births provide data on population changes, demographics, fertility rates, and other medical issues. It also summarized the country’s progression in registration and how the “advent of sex-reassignment surgery” caused people to advocate for changes to their birth certificates. 

As a result, many states allowed for changes to be made, which would set a precedent for states to decide what provisions could be made. 

“Today, the States’ practices are all over the map. At least six States do not permit amendments that conflict with the individual’s biological sex,” Sutton said. These states include Idaho, Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas, and South Carolina. 

The opinion also stated Tennessee will only allow changes to birth certificates if there is “proof of an error” to “protect the integrity and accuracy of vital records.” Sutton said “a ‘sex-change surgery’ does not count as a factual error that permits a change to the sex listed at birth.”

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti released a statement on the ruling, saying that whether or not someone can change their sex on their birth certificate is a “matter for each state to decide.”

“While other states have taken different approaches, for decades Tennessee has consistently recognized that a birth certificate records a biological fact of a child being male or female and has never addressed gender identity,” the statement read. “We are grateful that the Court of Appeals agreed with the district court that any change in Tennessee’s policy can only come from the people of Tennessee.”

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Judge Halts New Trans Protections In Tennessee Schools

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A federal judge will temporarily allow some transgender discrimination in Tennessee and other states, skirting new changes to Title IX. 

Those changes came in President Joe Biden’s first day in office with an executive order that added gender identity and sexual orientation to the anti-discrimination law. Biden later extended those protections to educational environments. The rules are set to go into effect on August 1. All of these changes came after the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibited companies from firing a person on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. 

In April, Tennessee led a coalition in a lawsuit to block Biden’s new additions to Title IX. The group included Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Virginia, Christian Educators Association International (CEAI), and “A.C.”, a 15-year-old high school girl who lives in West Virginia. 

The states argued that the new law would chill free speech and religious freedom because teachers would, under the new rules, have to use a student’s “preferred pronouns,” according to the suit. The law would also mandate schools to open up bathrooms and locker rooms to all genders. The states also argued that the new rules subverted Congressional review and overreached into states’ powers to make such laws. 

CEAI opposed the rules on grounds of free speech and shared private facilities. Its members — particularly educators in K-12 public schools —  wish to “live and work consistent with their shared belief that God created human beings as male and female and that sex is an immutable trait.” 

A.C., the 15-year-old student, said a transgender female was allowed to compete on her middle-school track team. The other student’s biology is an unfair advantage, A.C. said, and she did not feel comfortable dressing in front of the other student.

A federal judge agreed with the plaintiffs in a Tuesday ruling.

“There are two sexes: male and female,” wrote Chief Judge Danny Reeves, United States District Court of Eastern Kentucky. But Reeves said in a footnote that the statement was conceded by U.S. Department of Education officials in oral arguments. “The parties have agreed to little else.”

Reeves ordered a preliminary injunction against the new rules but only in those states who joined in the lawsuit. The stay extends to the Christian educators group and A.C. in those six states. 

Tennessee schools and universities would have to let boys into girls’ locker rooms and other private spaces.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti

“If the rule we stopped had been allowed to go into effect on August 1 as scheduled, Tennessee schools and universities would have to let boys into girls’ locker rooms and other private spaces,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “If the rule went into effect, our schools would have to punish teachers and students who declined to use someone’s preferred pronouns.

“These are profound changes to the law that the American people never agreed to.  This rule was a huge overreach by federal bureaucrats, and the court was right to stop it.”

Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, said, “We have a state government going into battle against trans and non-binary students via their pronouns,” in an opinion piece in The Tennessean Monday. 

Government employees should not have more of a right to define a student’s identity than the student does.

Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project

“Students are better served by policies that respect their identities,” Sanders said. “They are at school to get an education without barriers, not to serve as an opportunity for adults to exercise virtue by choice. 

“Experiencing an agent of the state using the wrong pronoun in front of one’s peers day after day is something students should not endure. Government employees should not have more of a right to define a student’s identity than the student does.”

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Tennessee AG Asserts Right to Out-Of-State Abortion, Transgender Care Medical Records

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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined Republican counterparts in 18 states in an effort to prevent the federal government from shielding the medical records of those who cross state lines to obtain legal abortion or gender-affirming care from investigations in their home state.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed a new privacy rule for certain medical records in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of abortion rights last year.

The rule would prohibit disclosure of medical records of individuals  who seek reproductive health care in a state in which the care is legal to officials or litigants in a home state in which it is not.

Under the proposed rule, the records would be shielded from law enforcement, court subpoenas and in civil lawsuits and family court proceedings.

“The proposed rule here continues the administration’s efforts to override state abortion law,” a June 16th letter from the attorneys general to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said.

The letter called the move to amend HIPAA — the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — unconstitutional, a result of “political pressure from the White House” that would interfere with states’ abilities to protect the health and safety of their citizens and to pursue evidence of criminal activity.

The existence of the letter was first reported Friday by the Mississippi Free Press.

A spokesperson for Skrmetti on Monday reiterated the letter’s assertion that the federal agency was overstepping its authority in contemplating the new privacy rule.

“HHS does not have authority to change the law in contradiction of the statute passed by Congress,” Elizabeth Lane Johnson, a spokesperson for Skrmetti, said in a statement Monday.

The rule was first proposed in April after President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing HHS to “consider ways to strengthen the protection of sensitive information related to reproductive health care services and bolster patient-provider confidentiality.”

In unveiling the proposed rule — which is winding its way through the federal government’s rule-making process — HHS Office of Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer said it came in response to the concerns of doctors and patients who feared adverse actions against those seeking care in another state that is illegal or restricted in their own.

“Today’s proposed rule is about safeguarding this trust in the patient-provider relationship, and ensuring that when you go to the doctor, your private medical records will not be disclosed and used against you for seeking lawful care,” Fontes Rainer said. “This is a real problem we are hearing and seeing, and we developed today’s proposed rule to help address this gap and provide clarity to our health care providers and patients.”

In their letter, attorneys general pushed back against the notion that they would seek to prosecute those seeking care outside their home state, calling such a claim “fear-mongering.”

Today’s proposed rule is about safeguarding this trust in the patient-provider relationship, and ensuring that when you go to the doctor, your private medical records will not be disclosed and used against you for seeking lawful care.

– Melanie Fontes Rainer, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The letter notes that state laws criminalizing abortion consistently provide an exception for women seeking the procedure. While the HHS proposed rule does not explicitly mention transgender care, the attorneys general conclude in their letter that such care would fall under the umbrella of the plan.

Their letter outlined a hypothetical: Should officials believe an abortion provider in their home state provided an illegal abortion, falsified medical records then sent their patient for additional care out of state to cover it up, the HHS rule would bar their investigation, the letter said.

The letter also suggests the rule would bar a complete investigation into misconduct against a doctor licensed in multiple states and “could inhibit state’s investigation of child abuse and other serious crimes.”

While the letter does not specify the circumstances in which child abuse investigations would warrant out-of-state reproductive health care records, it criticizes the federal government’s “radical approach to transgender issues” and says the “administration may intend to use the proposed rule to obstruct state laws concerning experimental gender-transition procedures for minors.”

Download the letter here.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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Federal Court Temporarily Halts Tennessee Ban on Transgender Care for Minors

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In a partial victory for transgender Tennesseans, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday on portions of the new law prohibiting trans minors from obtaining gender-affirming care, ruling the law likely violates the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Judge Eli Richardson granted the injunction to the plaintiffs — parents of two transgender youth — agreeing with arguments that Senate Bill 1 may interfere with the right of a minor’s parents to direct the medical care of their children as protected by the 14th Amendment.

But Richardson also ruled the portion of the new law banning surgical treatment stands for the time being on the grounds that neither of the minor plaintiffs argued a prohibition on surgical treatment would affect their treatment for gender dysphoria.

The new law, which is set to take effect on July 1st, prohibits any minor in Tennessee from receiving certain medical procedures if the purpose of receiving those procedures is to enable that minor to live with a gender identity that is inconsistent with that minor’s sex at birth, defining  “medical procedure” as including “surgically removing, modifying, altering, or entering into tissues, cavities, or organs of a human being.”

In a memorandum, Richardson wrote that the law likely constitutes sex-based discrimination against transgender persons as it applies a standard to them not applied to others and that Tennessee lawmakers lacked real-world experience to accurately judge whether gender-affirming care is harmful: “It is feasible that one might assume that because these procedures are intended to have the treated minor’s body do something that it otherwise would not do (rather than allow the body to function in a purportedly ‘natural’ manner), the procedure must be ‘bad’ or ‘harmful’ to the minor.”

Such assumptions, Richardson added, do not provide sufficient evidence to uphold the law, although the case will proceed to a full trial for resolution.

Richardson’s ruling follows a June 20th decision in Arkansas, in which a federal judge similarly ruled that state’s law violated both the First and 14th Amendments, and one in Kentucky, also on Thursday.

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Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), sponsor of SB1, posted on Twitter, “I have complete faith that the legislation we passed is constitutional. I appreciate Attorney General [Jonathan] Skrmetti’s commitment to vigorously appeal this decision — all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.”

Transgender rights advocates celebrated the ruling.

“Today’s ruling acknowledges the dangerous implications of this law and protects the freedom to access vital, life-saving healthcare for trans youth and their families while our challenge proceeds,” said Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, ACLU of Tennessee staff attorney. “This law is an intrusion upon the rights and lives of Tennessee families and threatens the futures of trans youth across the state. We are determined to continue fighting this unconstitutional law until it is struck down for good.”

“Finally, these families can regroup after a year of crisis,” said Molly Quinn, executive director of OUTMemphis, an LGBTQ advocacy organization. “The trans people I know are tired of being used to mobilize a Christian nationalist agenda, and tired of feeling forced out of Tennessee, at the cost of the basic healthcare they need to live free and happy lives. This fight isn’t over, and our message to trans Tennesseans is: Don’t give up. You have people fighting for you, and we won’t stop until Tennessee is a safe and affirming state for us all.”

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Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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Tennessee Advocacy Groups Offer Name Change and Gender Marker Services

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Four Tennessee advocacy agencies have announced the “Tennessee Name Project,” which will cover name change and gender marker services for transgender and “gender-expansive communities.”

OUT Memphis, inclusion tennessee, Knox Pride Center, and Bass, Berry, Sims have come together to announce the project in the aftermath of the signing and passage of SB 1440.

According to inclusion tennessee, the law will go into effect on July 1, 2023, and will “severely limit the ability for Tennesseans to legally change their gender marker on their state ID’s.”

The text of the law defines “sex” as “ a person’s immutable/biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth and evidence of a person’s biological sex.”

This law has been condemned by the Human Rights Campaign, who said the bill “makes LGBTQ+ people more susceptible to discrimination by defining sex in a way that prevents LGBTQ+ Tennesseans from being covered by state nondiscrimination laws. It will have a disproportionate impact on transgender people.”

Sarah Warbelow, HRC legal director, stated that this is the latest attempt by “extremist Tennessee Senators” to “ stigmatize, marginalize and erase the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender Tennesseans.”

“Let’s be clear: the goal of this bill is to exclude the LGBTQ+ community from nondiscrimination protections in the state of Tennessee and to perpetuate a false narrative of who transgender people are,” said Warbelow.

According to the HRC, Tennessee has enacted 14 anti-LGBTQ+ laws, and said that it was “more than any other state in the country.” The Flyer reported earlier this year that Governor Bill Lee had signed off on legislation that prohibited minors from accessing gender-affirming care and from participating in school sports.

“Tennessee has banned transgender students from playing school sports three times; forbidden students from using the correct bathroom at school; allowed government contractors providing child welfare services to discriminate with taxpayer dollars; regulated the ability of transgender youth to access age-appropriate gender affirming care, and several others,” the campaign said.

The project is currently assessing whether or not it will be able to help minors. They will not be able to assist prior to July 1, and according to inclusion tn, not all petitions are granted. Eligibility will be discussed during intake.

Interested individuals may apply here.

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Advocacy Groups Promise Legal Action Against Transgender Healthcare Bill

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The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, and Lambda Legal, a national organization “committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV,” issued a statement where they have promised legal action against the Tennessee law that will prohibit gender affirming care for minors.

“We will not allow this dangerous law to stand,” said the statement. “We are dedicated to overturning this unconstitutional law and are confident the state will find itself completely incapable of defending it in court. We want transgender youth to know they are not alone and this fight is not over.”

Senate Bill 1 was recently signed into law by Governor Bill Lee on Thursday, March 2nd. The law will prohibit healthcare professionals from administering gender-affirming care to minors. This makes Tennessee the fourth state to ban this care for people under the age of 18.

This legislation will make gender affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers inaccessible, and trans people in Tennessee will not have access to this care until they reach the age of 18. Similar restrictions have been made in states like Arkansas and Alabama.

A report entitled “LGBTQ Tennesseans: A Report of the 2021 Southern LGBTQ Experiences Survey,” released by the Campaign for Southern Equality in January 2023 defines gender affirming healthcare as “ an individualized experience for all trans and nonbinary people. There is no single surgery or standard path that all trans people access and each transgender person has their own unique needs related to gender affirming care.”

The report said that about 84 percent of transgender respondents from Tennessee said that “when they were under the age of 18, having access to gender-affirming care was important to their overall well-being.”  

“Restrictive laws and policies related to gender affirming care can lead to increased stigma for transgender people, resulting in delays or avoidance in seeking necessary medical care, ultimately resulting in worse health outcomes for this population,” the study stated.

In response to the signing of the bill into law, Emma Chinn, co-author of LGBTQ+ Tennesseans, special projects coordinator at the Campaign for Southern Equality, and a master of public policy candidate at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, said that research states that “access to transgender-related healthcare is critical to the physical and mental health of transgender people and their ability to thrive in their daily lives.”

As the law does not go into effect until July 1, 2023, advocates are also offering resources and steps for families to take action now.

A resource guide provided by the ACLU of Tennessee, Inclusion TN, and Campaign for Southern Equality lists the following recommendations:

  1. See current provider as soon as possible to discuss current needs and options for continued care;
  2. If you and your family  have been planning to pursue gender-affirming care, try to initiate care before July 1 when the law takes effect;
  3. Fill current prescriptions with regard to gender-affirming medical care;
  4. To view a list of trans-affirming providers in Southern states, please visit the Trans in the South guide at www.transinthesouth.org. 
  5. For any questions related to navigating gender-affirming care in Tennessee, please fill out this form at www.southernequality.org/tnresources or email TennesseeResources@southernequality.org

The Campaign for Southern Equality and Inclusion Tennessee have also partnered to give out rapid response emergency grants of $250.

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Tennessee Equality Project Speaks on Trans Healthcare Bill

Credit: state of Tennessee

Tennessee medical professionals could lose their license if they provide gender-affirming care to minors with a new law now under consideration by the Tennessee General Assembly.

the proposed legislation says that these procedures can “lead to the minor becoming irreversibly sterile, having increased risk of disease and illness, or [suffer] from adverse and sometimes fatal psychological consequences.”

This legislation also allows civil litigation against a healthcare provider who performs such procedures. These lawsuits could be brought within 30 years from the date the minor reaches 18 years of age, or within 10 years from the date of the minor’s death if the minor dies. It also allows relatives of a minor to bring a wrongful death action against a healthcare providers in such cases under certain conditions.

In October of 2022, the Flyer reported that Tennessee law currently allows for access to gender-affirming healthcare for youth.

Jace Wilder studies and teaches transgender policies for the Tennessee Equality Project.

“We really have to keep a critical eye on what is the goal of our legislature, and what initiatives or what funding they’re getting to really just continue to police and criminalize a minority group of people,” Wilder said.

The Flyer was able to talk with Wilder, about gender affirming care for minors, misconceptions around the procedures, and what could be next for trans youth in Tennessee. — Kailynn Johnson

Why would doctors choose not to delay care for minors who are transitioning?

Jace Wilder: So, one of the things that gets left behind a lot is the narrative of the effects of delaying care. That includes suicide rates going up. That one has been proven over and over again. Lack of access to care, lack of actual equitable care, and — even more so — not having support from both family and from medical providers proves to have worse outcomes for those youth that have to delay their care.

When they see laws like this, that prohibit them from accessing their own care, they automatically can see that their state doesn’t really care about them, or care about their health care access. So, when it comes to delaying care, you’re also reinforcing that isolation.

Whenever we go into doctors’ offices, the assumption right now is that you just go in, and you get on hormones, and you get surgery, and it’s all just kind of like this one movement. But the reality is that, according to both [World Professional Association for Transgender Health – WPATH], which is the organization that provides the standards of care for trans people…is that doctors can just sometimes provide counseling to families about how to respect and encourage their trans child after they come out, provide education for those parents, who may be not ready to take that step with their child about accessing health care, or accessing HRT and surgeries, and continue to counsel them.

This bill will eliminate the ability to even have those conversations because it’s seen as coercion…and can be declared child abuse of a parent to just ask their doctor about how to care for their trans kid.

You mentioned that one of the harmful effects of this bill would be that trans youth would believe that their state doesn’t care about them. The text of the bill states that, “the legislature must take action to protect the health and welfare of minors.” Do you believe that this statement contradicts the actual legislation?

JW: It ignores the actual wishes and desires of the trans youth. What they’re doing is ignoring years and years of advocacy and science from both scientists who care and doctors that actually care for trans youth, and the families that have seen the positive effects of transition or have seen the positive effects of just providing support for trans youth. It’s ignoring all that in favor of acting like a hero, while villainizing a minoritized community. They’re just ignoring what is actually wanted by trans youth and their families.

You also talked a little bit earlier about how a lot of people kind of have this misconception that there is just one approach to trans healthcare. Do you think any of these misconceptions have contributed to the legislature pushing for this legislation to be passed?

JW: I think that some of the misconception comes from…one, the speed of it. The standards of care that they are provided with show that there are certain ages in which they are already not allowed to give hormone replacement therapy or puberty blockers.

They, also already laid out who is allowed and who is not allowed to have surgeries, and all hospitals, any hospital or medical clinic with any kind of accreditation, that would make it legal for them to even function have to follow those standards of care because they’re implemented by the hospitals.

A lot of times we get stuck in this narrative that it’s all this one giant conspiracy to speed up the process to transition people who should not be transitioned. The reality is people are actually struggling to even access the care in the first place, and when they do it takes a really long time to get through that process, if they even do by the time they’re 18.

What do you all think is next for trans healthcare in Tennessee?

JW: We’re seeing is this escalation to even saying that trans people who are 25 — legal adults who can vote, legal adults who can drink, who can serve for their country — these individuals don’t have the right to determine their own health care, based off of this weird idea that the state knows best. But this only for this very small group that cannot be heard in their own legislature.

It’s just going to push and possibly extend out to the age of 25. In fact, [Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland)] kind of mentioned that  alongside [Daily Wire host] Matt Walsh in the House committee hearing that just happened.

We’re also seeing that in the drag queen bill they labeled drag as impersonation of another gender, meaning that we’re really getting on that ledge of going back to the 1980s. It’s drawing back to that idea that impersonating another gender is somehow criminal, and that being another gender than you were born as is a criminal act. So, we are seeing the full on policing and criminalization of trans folks at this point.

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ACLU Critical of Methodist Le Bonheur’s Transgender Policies

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee is taking Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (MLH) in Memphis to task for canceling gender affirmation surgery for a 19-year-old patient.

According to the ACLU, Chris Evans was notified days before a scheduled surgery that the hospital had adopted a policy to deny gender-affirming care to transgender and nonbinary patients. 

“All people should be able to access necessary medical care without fear of discrimination because of who they are,” said ACLU-TN Staff Attorney Lucas Cameron-Vaughn. “Denial of healthcare results in life-threatening situations for all patients. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare is risking the lives of its patients by jumping into culture wars. Discrimination does not belong in healthcare.

A letter sent by Cameron-Vaughan alleges Evans was told of the facility’s decision on November 21. 

“Such a policy is unlawful discrimination based on sex pursuant to Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as well as discrimination on the basis of disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act,” wrote Cameron-Vaughan.

“Categorically refusing to provide treatment to an individual because they are transgender or nonbinary is prohibited sex discrimination under Section 1557,” the letter continues.

The ACLU “demands” the healthcare facility respond by the close of business on December 2 with confirmation Evans’ surgery has been scheduled to be performed before December 31. 

Should MLH not comply, the ACLU plans to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

MLH’s website states the healthcare facility is Tennessee’s largest provider of care to TennCare/Medicaid and uninsured patients, serving more than 128,000 adult TennCare and Medicaid patients annually. 

A web page titled “LGBTQ+” has been deactivated from the site. 

In a statement, MLH said, “Our commitment remains to deliver high quality and compassionate care to any patient regardless of their race, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. In recent weeks, some care providers voiced questions about patients receiving gender affirming procedures at a facility affiliated with our health system. This resulted in a temporary pause to review current practices. We have not changed our practices regarding the treatment of transgender and/or non-binary patients. We have not wavered from our commitment as a health system for all. We understand the physicians are moving forward with getting the patients rescheduled before the end of the year.”ACLU-TN-Demand-Letter-to-MLH-11.30.22_final.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.