The country's highest court will take up the issue of state bans on the gender manipulation of minors – or as advocates label it: "gender-affirming care." Many Red states have put such bans in place, saying therapies and surgeries on minors are dangerous and that many patients later regret the process. Meanwhile, proponents of bans argue that states already tell minors they're not allowed to do certain things until the age of 18 and this is no different.
The Biden administration appealed to the Court, the argument being that states are infringing on the rights of transgender individuals and families.
Attorney Sarah Parshall Perry of The Heritage Foundation was glad to see the Court take up the issue. "This was a case that was rescheduled for conference where the justices privately considered their docket for the upcoming term. Eight times this case was rescheduled for conference," she tells AFN.
Perry thinks this means there were probably some "very hot debates going on behind the scenes" about what precisely they were going to consider and whether to take the case.
"It's a very politically charged issue – [and] as you know, it's been politicized," she continues. "But it's gratifying to see that after so many reschedules for conference that they finally realized that there needs to be some clarification on whether … sex is the same as gender identity or transgender status and whether … a state can constitutionally ban or limit these very experimental and damaging procedures for minors."
The case that will be before the Supreme Court involves a law in Tennessee that restricts puberty blockers and hormone therapy for gender-confused minors. Arguments reportedly will take place in the fall.
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