The Department of Justice submitted a court filing Wednesday challenging a Tennessee law that prohibits transgender surgical procedures and hormonal treatments for minors, intervening in an ongoing federal lawsuit by asking the court to strike down the law before it takes effect on July 1.
The law, which was signed by Tennessee governor Bill Lee in March, violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause, the DOJ argued.
"Left unchallenged, it would prohibit transgender children from receiving health care that their medical providers and their parents have determined to be medically necessary,” Henry Leventis, a Middle District U.S. Attorney, said in a statement released Wednesday. “In doing so, the law seeks to substitute the judgment of trained medical professionals and parents with that of elected officials and codifies discrimination against children who already face far too many obstacles."
In late February, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill, HB1, which specifically barred the prescription of "hormone or puberty blockers" for "gender dysphoric" youth.
The ACLU sued last week to block the law on behalf of three Tennessee families with transgender-identifying kids.
Tennessee Equality Project, a group focused on LGBTQ issues, condemned the legislation, arguing that it endangered youth.
"The House took life-saving healthcare options away from trans youth and their families and ignored the 1st Amendment by passing HB1 and HB9. Almost 300 organizations, congregations, businesses have spoken out against them. Governor Lee should veto them," the group tweeted Thursday afternoon.
The bill came after the Daily Wire revealed that senior figures at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center bragged that transgender surgical procedures for minors were a “big money maker,” which ultimately led the institution to temporarily suspend surgeries.
Tennessee’s attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, has stood by the legislation despite the pushback.
“Mounting evidence has persuaded a growing number of countries that irreversible medical interventions are not appropriate for kids showing symptoms of gender dysphoria,” Elizabeth Lane, a spokeswoman for Skrmetti said in a statement published last week.
“The Tennessee General Assembly passed a law to protect Tennessee children from the lifelong consequences of these interventions, and we will vigorously defend that law.”
The Department of Justice intervened and filed a similar lawsuit in April 2022 challenging a similar bill in Alabama.
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