Trans Youths Denied Access to Affirming Care in Sixth Circuit

Kentucky and Tennessee can enforce bans on gender-affirming care for transgender minors until questions over the laws’ constitutionality are resolved, the Sixth Circuit said Thursday.

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a preliminary injunction that had stopped the states’ from barring doctors from treating youths’ gender dysphoria with puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones. The court previously had stayed the orders during the appeal.

The minors aren’t likely to succeed on their claim that the Kentucky and Tennessee laws violate their 14th Amendment equal protection rights because the bans don’t discriminate based on sex, Judge Jeffrey S. ...