NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On Wednesday, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Tennessee’s new law that prohibits transgender youth from receiving gender affirming careone of several Statehouse laws dominated by the state’s Republican Party enacted this year targeting LGBTQ people.
The federal government seeks to invalidate the statute because «no person should be denied access to necessary medical care solely because of their transgender status,» Assistant United States Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. The Justice Department said the law violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause by discriminating on the basis of sex and transgender status.
“The right to discuss your health and medically approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety and suicide,” Clarke added. .
The federal lawsuit comes after Clarke sent a letter to all state attorneys general last month advising them that federal law protects transgender youth from discrimination. The Justice Department also intervened last year in a lawsuit challenging a similar ban on transgender health care for youth. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee approved a ban on gender-affirming care for minors earlier this year. The bill was the first bill introduced in this year’s legislative session. Republican leaders did so in response to a video that surfaced on social media last year of a Nashville doctor touting that gender-affirming procedures are «huge money makers» for hospitals. That hospital has since halted its transgender services for youth.
Republican lawmakers also introduced legislation designed to severely limit where resistance is shown can be done, making Tennessee the first state to do so. A federal judge temporarily blocked implementation of the statute.
Nationwide, Republican lawmakers have proposed hundreds of laws targeting transgender people, and at least 14 states restrict or ban gender-affirming care for minors.
Under Tennessee law, which goes into effect July 1, doctors will be prohibited from prescribing puberty blockers or hormones, or providing other gender-affirming care to anyone under the age of 18. The law provides some exceptions, including allowing physicians to perform such medical services. if the patient’s care begins before the law goes into effect. In those cases, care must end before March 31, 2024.
Health care providers who violate the ban would be subject to regulatory disciplinary action and could be sued by the state attorney general or by individuals. Violations carry a $25,000 fine.
A spokesman for the Tennessee Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond for comment.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit is the second complaint challenging Tennessee’s new law. Last week, three transgender children and their parents sued the state, alleging that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment because it excludes treatment for gender dysphoria and allows the same treatments to be used for other conditions.