The US is currently years behind its Western peers in restricting youth gender transitions, as the UK, Sweden, Norway and others limit access to hormones and surgeries for minors. But changing political winds, along with a pending Supreme Court case, could bring about a sea change over the coming year.
A federal court determined on Wednesday that Indiana’s ban on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the purpose of youth gender transitions could stand, reversing a lower court’s temporary blocking of the law. A nearly identical court process unfolded in Tennessee last year, with the case now resting before the Supreme Court. Justices will hear oral arguments next month in the Tennessee case, and are expected to release a decision in late spring determining whether such bans are constitutional.
The Court’s 6-3 conservative majority will likely uphold restrictions on medical transitions for minors, but such a decision would not resolve the current split in the US over the issue. As it stands, 26 states restrict the procedures and 24 do not.
In early 2023, Donald Trump pledged to sign a law banning “child sexual mutilation” nationwide, and this month’s election results make a full US ban a strong possibility. Republicans will control the House, Senate, and presidency in the coming year, and the party has every reason to view bans on youth transitions as a winning issue. Ads highlighting Kamala Harris’s support for taxpayer-funded transition surgeries for prisoners, for example, were credited with winning over undecided voters in swing states.
Democrats have long objected to restrictions on transgender medical treatments, including for minors, generally siding with activists’ claims that the procedures are safe, effective, and medically necessary. The Biden administration has led the way on this front, with a whole-of-government effort to make legal and medical transitions more accessible through the work of numerous federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services. Youth gender transitions, and opposition to state limits on such treatments, were key to those efforts. Further, the Biden administration is one of the petitioners currently asking the Supreme Court to strike down state laws banning such treatments for minors.
But the Democratic Party, having just seen 90% of US counties shift to the Right, is divided over how it should handle contentious social issues moving forward. Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton has been the subject of a week-long news cycle after arguing against male athletes in girls’ sports, but he has maintained his position amid criticism from his party and his own staff.
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Subscribe“As it becomes acceptable — and perhaps politically necessary — for Democrats to reject transgender ideology” – “politically necessary” is all you have to know about the majority of modern politicians.
Another attempt by far right “Christian” extremists to insert themselves and their insane prejudices between a citizen and their health care provider. They’ve already done it to women. Trans kids are next. Who will it be after that?
You, with a bit of luck. A total lobotomy would do wonders for your IQ level.
Ah, our kid! Look at you, still trying to be funny! Keep it up, lad, persistence in the face of repeated humiliations is very admirable!
(this is where he says something like “oh, you should know all about that” or something equally lame. I can read you people like a book!)
Giving you a dislike is like a dog raising its paw to mark its territory. It’s not that it’s pleasant, it’s just necessary.
By the way, have you recovered from the victory of “foscism” in America?
So rattled, you’re talking to yourself now. I’ll wager that’s just the start of your solo activities.
Rattled?!?! By you?!?!
At last you said something funny, our kid!
Typical CS drivel posing as clever. And failing miserably.
Yes, child sacrifice and mutilation are not worth the attention of the woke. The woke have the right to vo-opt medical care and turn it into child destruction and no one has the right to question it.