For Idaho’s transgender children and their parents, this victory is significant, according to one advocate.
A federal court on Tuesday ruled against an Idaho law that forbids doctors from providing transgender minors access to gender-affirming care, preventing the legislation from going into effect. The gender-affirming care restrictions, which were initially scheduled to go into effect on January 1, would have made it illegal to provide transgender youth with hormone therapy and puberty blockers.
According to Leo Morales, senior director of the ACLU of Idaho, this success is significant for Idaho’s transgender children and their families and will immediately improve their daily lives.
Idaho’s anti-trans legislation, according to Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, most likely violated the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment.
According to the law, transgender kids should be treated equally. In his decision, Winmill stated that parents should have the right to make the most important decisions regarding how to care for their children.
According to the court order, Jane Doe, a 16-year-old transgender girl and one of the plaintiffs challenging the law, sobbed in the doorway at her school and her family had to take her home after Idaho’s gender-affirming care restrictions passed the legislature. She “sometimes wished she didn’t even exist” before receiving gender-affirming care, according to the complaint challenging the law, but access to such care “significantly improved” her mental health.
According to Li Nowlin-Sohl, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, “every family wants what is best for their kids, and parents who love and support their trans children are no different.” The well-being of transgender children, the strength of our communities, and the capacity of every family to decide what’s best for their child are all in danger from these perilous attempts to control our bodies and our families.
Pam Poe, a 15-year-old trans girl who is another plaintiff in the case, “struggled with depression, anxiety, and self-harm” before receiving gender-affirming care that “greatly improved” her mental health. She and her family would have considered leaving the state if the gender-affirming medical ban had taken effect.
In the midst of a long-running assault on their freedom to access healthcare and the ability to navigate the world around them, this judicial decision is much-needed relief for transgender people, according to Morales. Transgender people should not be denied access to proper healthcare because “everyone should remain free to live and prosper in their true identity.”
According to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), Idaho is one of 22 states that have restricted or outlawed transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care. The gender-affirming healthcare restrictions were outlined by MAP in a recent report as part of “the war against LGBTQ people in America and their very right and ability to openly exist.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits has overturned lower court rulings, allowing restrictions in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama to take effect, even though many of these prohibitions have been partially blocked by the courts.
According to research from the Trevor Project, discussions about anti-trans bills have a negative impact on the mental health of transgender and nonbinary youth, and 55% of those who identified as transgender youth said that the issue “very significantly” affected their mental well-being. According to a Human Rights Campaign survey, gender-affirming care restrictions have an impact on the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ people in addition to harming transgender and nonbinary individuals. According to the survey, 8 out of 10 LGBTQ adults believed that the bans made them feel less safe and “worsened” dangerous stereotypes, prejudice, hate, and stigma.
