Judge blocks Arkansas ban on gender affirmation sponsorship for transgender minors

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A federal judge temporarily blocked an Arkansas law Wednesday that would prohibit doctors in the state from providing transition-related health care — such as hormones and puberty blockers — to transgender minors.

The ACLU sued the law in May on behalf of four young transgender people and their parents, as well as two doctors who provide gender-affirming healthcare, arguing that it violated the US Constitution.

Supporters of the law argue that transition-related health care is “experimental” and that transgender people are too young to receive care.

Judge James M. Moody Jr. of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas heard arguments in the case Wednesday morning, agreeing to the ACLU’s request for a preliminary injunction against the law, which was due to go into effect next week.

Holly Dixon, executive director of the Arkansas Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that the ruling “sends a clear message to states across the country that gender affirmation care is lifesaving, and we won’t let politicians in Arkansas — or anywhere else — take it.” Away “.

“Today’s victory is a testament to transgender youth in Arkansas and their allies, who have never given up the fight to protect access to gender affirmation care and who will continue to advocate for the right of all transgender people to be their original selves, free from discrimination,” she said. We will not rest until this cruel and unconstitutional law is repealed forever.”

In addition to the ACLU, the plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU of Arkansas and the law firms of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, Gill Ragon Owen and Walas Law Firm.

The lawsuit identifies Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Routledge and members of the Arkansas State Medical Board as defendants.

Routledge told NBC News in an email after the ACLU filed the lawsuit that she would “vigorously defend an Arkansas law that severely limits life-altering, permanent sexual changes for teens.”

“I will not sit idly by while extremist groups like the ACLU use our children as pawns for their own social agenda,” she said.

The Arkansas State Medical Board said it does not comment on the pending lawsuit.

The state received support from 17 prosecutors who filed a friendly note in the case — a move lawyers said was largely unprecedented, The19 reported.

This level of support shows that the temporary injunction is not the end, but that prosecutors still celebrate it as a victory.

Dylan Brandt, one of the youths represented by the ACLU, said during a news conference after Wednesday’s hearing that prosecutors want other trans children to know that we “support you.”

“We should all be free to make decisions about our medical care with the support of our parents and our experts in the field,” said the 15-year-old.

Dylan Brant’s mother, Joanna Brandt, spoke on behalf of the parents involved in the lawsuit.

“We’ve seen the benefits of this healthcare firsthand,” she said during the press conference. “Our children have been struggling, and with that care they have a level of hope and happiness we have never seen before. We are no different than any other parent in Arkansas. We love our children and want them to grow up healthy, cuddly and safe.”

Joanna Brandt said the law “ignores” what medical professionals say about gender confirmation care. Major medical associations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Endocrine Society, among others, support access to gender confirmation care for transgender minors.

Research has found that access to care such as pubertal blockers, which temporarily stop puberty, is associated with a lower risk of suicide among transgender youth.

At least one female doctor in Arkansas said she saw the effects of the state’s proposal even before it became law.

After the bill was approved in the House in late March, Michelle Hutchison, a pediatrician at the Gender Spectrum Clinic at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and another plaintiff in the case, testified before the state Senate that there were “several children in our emergency room due to an attempted Suicide, just last week.”

The ACLU, as well as state grassroots groups such as Intransitive Arkansas, a transgender advocacy group, called on Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson to veto the bill after the legislature passed it in March, and he did.

At the time, he called the measure a “widespread government overreach” in private medical decisions, but Arkansas lawmakers overridden their veto the next day.

Some Arkansas families with trans children have since left the state. Others, including some represented by the ACLU, have said they will leave if the law is not eventually repealed.

During Wednesday’s press conference, ACLU attorney Chase Strangio noted that the group has recently had success in a number of states where judges have blocked actions targeting transgender people by judges pending litigation.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Tennessee blocked a law requiring companies to post a notice if they allow transgender people to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. Last year, a federal judge in Idaho also blocked a law that would have banned transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams in middle school, high school and college.

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