The case the high court will hear in December, United States v. Skrmetti, involves a Tennessee law that bans body-chopping surgeries and body-altering drugs for minors.
Senate Bill 1, signed into law in 2023 by Gov. Bill Lee (pictured below), is being challenged by the Biden administration and by ACLU attorneys.
Tennessee’s attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, is defending the state law against the legal challenges.
Proponents of removing a girl's breasts and giving her puberty blockers call it “gender-affirming care” for minors who identify as the opposite sex.
In its original complaint, the U.S. Department of Justice similarly called it “medically necessary care.”
With that appeal coming before the nine justices, the group Partners for Ethical Care has filed an amicus brief on behalf of numerous people – detransitioners – who personally know the lasting impact of those medical procedures and support the Tennessee law.
“We believe nobody has the right to sterilize or disfigure children for no medical reason,” Martha Shoultz, an attorney and Partners co-founder, says of the group’s stance.
Defenders of “gender-affirming care” describe themselves as supportive and sympathetic, but Partners is pushing back with a project called "Transition Justice" that seeks legal justice for victims of the medical industry.
A panel discussion in September, featuring six detransitioners, allowed them to share their stories and to warn parents about the permanent damage surgeries and hormone therapy cause to young bodies.
Regarding the Partners amicus brief, Shoultz says she was grateful to see numerous other groups also submit a legal brief that asks the justices to uphold the Tennessee law.
“There's LGB Alliance, which is a gay and lesbian group that doesn't want to trans kids, and some that are Christian groups,” she says. “There’s all kinds of different groups who are filing briefs in this case."
Even though the appeal addresses the Tennessee law, a related story by National Catholic Registers points out the ruling could impact 20 states that prohibit or restrict trans surgery on minors.
