SCOTUS Upholds Tenn. Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Kids

It's a big blow for the transgender community
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 18, 2025 9:58 AM CDT
SCOTUS Upholds Tenn. Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Kids
The Supreme Court is seen in Washington on Nov. 2.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, reports the AP, a stunning setback to transgender rights. The justices' 6-3 decision effectively protects from legal challenges many efforts by President Trump's administration and state governments to roll back protections for transgender people. Another 26 states have laws similar to the one in Tennessee. The decision comes amid a range of other federal and state efforts to regulate the lives of transgender people, including which sports competitions they can join and which bathrooms they can use. In April, Trump's administration sued Maine for not complying with the government's push to ban transgender athletes in girls sports.

The president also has sought to block federal spending on gender-affirming medical care for those under age 19—instead promoting talk therapy only to treat young transgender people. In addition, the Supreme Court has allowed him to kick transgender service members out of the military, even as court battles continue. The president also signed another order to define the sexes as only male and female. The justices acted a month after the United Kingdom's top court delivered a setback to transgender rights, ruling unanimously that the UK Equality Act means trans women can be excluded from some groups and single-sex spaces, such as changing rooms, homeless shelters, swimming areas, and medical or counseling services provided only to women.

Five years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that transgender people, as well as gay and lesbian people, are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. That decision isn't affected by Wednesday's ruling. But the justices on Wednesday declined to apply the same sort of analysis the court used in 2020 when it found that "sex plays an unmistakable role" in employers' decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate. "[The Court] authorizes, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them," wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent. "Because there is no constitutional justification for that result, I dissent."

(More Supreme Court stories.)

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