Arkansas Law Banning Gender Care for Minors Blocked by Judge (1)

Arkansas transgender minors can receive gender-affirming care after a federal judge invalidated a state law that prohibits parents from seeking it and doctors from providing it.

Judge James M. Moody Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas permanently blocked enforcement of the provision Tuesday in the first merits ruling on the subject in the US. He held that the ban violates parents’ and minors’ equal protection and due process rights under the US Constitution because it’s clearly based on sex-related classifications.

The law, moreover, doesn’t serve important government interests, Moody said. It “prohibits medical care ...