A federal judge has tentatively blocked the enforcement of an Idaho law banning gender-affirming health care treatments for transgender people under the age of 18, in a victory for their families and their medical providers. 12.27.23 – BOISE
The government’s prohibition of estrogen, puberty blockers, and other medically accepted procedures, according to District Court Judge Lynn Winmill, likely violates the U.S. Constitution’s Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. If this preliminary injunction is upheld, trans children will still have access to their gender-affirming health care on January 1, 2024. While the lawsuit is ongoing and it is decided whether House Bill 71 violates the defendants’ Due Process and Equal Protection rights, the legislation will not go into effect.
Two Idaho families claim that HB 71, which was passed into law earlier this year by Governor Brad Little, violates the rights of trans children and their families under the U.S. Constitution in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Idaho, Legal Voice, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and Consovoy McCarthy PLLC.
According to Leo Morales, executive director of the ACLU of Idaho, this victory is crucial for Idaho’s transgender children and their families and will immediately improve their daily lives. This court ruling is “a much-needed ray of hope for transgender people amid a years-long assault against their rights to access healthcare and ability to navigate the world around them.” Transgender individuals should not be denied access to medically sound healthcare because everyone should be free to live and thrive in their true selves.
Every family wants what’s best for their children, and families who love and accept their trans children are no different, according to Lisa Nowlin-Sohl, Senior Staff Attorney for the LGBTQ & HIV Project of the ACLU. The well-being of transgender children, the resilience of our communities, and the capacity of every family to decide what is best for their child are all endangered by these dangerous attempts to control our bodies and our families. We are grateful that the judge recognized the danger this legislation posed to our clients, and we are committed to fighting these restrictions until Idaho is a safe place for every family.
The legal challenge against Idaho’s restrictions is one of several similar ones brought by the ACLU and its national network against restrictions on the health care of transgender youth. Plaintiffs and medical professionals in Tennessee and Kentucky asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that would have allowed bans to go into effect in those states in November 2023.
Idaho’s restriction is one of many passed in the past year that have uprooted families, threatened the present and future well-being of transgender children, and alarmed both medical providers and doctors. If HB 71 were to go into effect, it would threaten medical professionals with up to ten years in prison and charge them with a felony.
