Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Tennessee, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP have jointly filed a lawsuit against the State of Tennessee, seeking to block the state’s ban on medically necessary gender-affirming care for trans youth. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on behalf of Samantha and Brian Williams, parents of a 15-year-old transgender daughter from Nashville, and two other plaintiff families, with a Memphis-based obstetrics & gynecology specialist Dr. Susan Lacy also joining as a plaintiff.
Tennessee’s new law would ban best practice medical care for trans youth up to age 18, and require trans youth currently receiving gender-affirming care to end that care within nine months of the law’s effective date of July 1, 2023, or by March 31, 2024. Additionally, the law would establish a private right of action against medical providers offering medically necessary care to trans youth.
The lawsuit argues that the law is discriminatory and would threaten the health and well-being of trans youth, forcing them to either leave Tennessee to receive the necessary medical care or for families to uproot their entire lives and leave the state altogether. The lawsuit also challenges the law’s infringement on parental rights to care for and love their children.
According to the Williams Institute of UCLA, there are an estimated 30,800 trans Tennesseans, of whom about 3,100 are youth between the ages of 13-17. Bans like Tennessee’s Public Chapter No. 1 are opposed by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The plaintiffs, supported by Lambda Legal, ACLU, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, seek to strike down the law and ensure that trans youth in Tennessee have the freedom to access vital, life-saving healthcare. The Tennessee law is an attack on transgender youth and their families, says Joshua Block, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.