Actor Elliot Page is requesting that Tennessee’s restrictions on gender-affirming treatment for transgender minors be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A small outlining how their lives have improved as a result of receiving gender-affirming care was filed with the country’s highest court on December 4 by Page and 56 additional trans adults, including celebrity Nicole Maines and Matrix co-director Lilly Wachowski.
Some people had the good fortune to start receiving this worry when they were young. However, for the majority of people, the obstacles to receiving this care—which were primarily caused by discrimination—were overwhelming until adulthood,” the small reads. It goes on to say that” those who received gender-affirming health care as adolescents describe it as critical to their well-being and even life.” The delay caused many people who began attention after youth to suffer.
The succinct reads,” Quick treatment relieved female dysphoria and, for some, has perhaps saved their lives.”
At the age of 33, Page came out as a trans man in 2020. He acknowledged that he “was n’t a girl” at the age of 4 in his memoir” Pageboy.”
A law prohibiting specialists from administering medical procedures to minors that would allow them to identify with or sit as a “purported personality inconsistent with the eternal features of the biological system” was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly earlier this year. A related legislation was likewise passed in Kentucky this year.
The small reads,” The care prohibited by the Tennessee and Kentucky legislation has lessened the suffering of many trans people and has paved the way for them to live more fulfilling and pleasant life.”
Three transgender teenagers, their families, and a doctor filed an lawsuit against the status in April, claiming that the law violates both the “fundamental right” of parents to choose their children’s health care and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Eventually, the U.S. Department of Justice joined the legal action.
Three days before the legislation was scheduled to take impact on July 1, a federal judge blocked it.
In September, a federal appeals court panel overturned that ruling, reinstating the laws prohibiting care for transgender adolescents.
In the hopes that the Supreme Court may reject the appeals court’s ruling reinstating the restrictions, the defendants in the case have requested a hearing. The small filed last week was even filed in that case, and claimants in a petition challenging Kentucky’s laws have asked the Supreme Court to hear their situation.
The U.S. Supreme Court would first take into account transgender medical care regulations if it decided to hear the appeal. Similar legislation has recently been passed by almost two hundred state. Various legal decisions have been made by national authorities in numerous says.
Melissa Brown made a contribution to this narrative.
The Tennessean’s justice writer is Evan Mealins. Follow him on X, previously known as Twitter, @EvanMealins, or get in touch with him at [email protected].
