Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said Thursday the most important aspect of arguments at the Supreme Court this week over his state’s ban against medical sex-change treatment for youth was opponents’ acknowledgment that a leading study shows the medications don’t prevent suicide.
Mr. Skrmetti said while most children outgrow gender dysphoria, or distress over a conflict about gender identity, there’s been pressure on parents to get them medical help like puberty blockers and hormone therapy that can damage adolescents’ health.
Critics of the state’s law say the treatments help transgender children live happy lives, and have raised concerns over suicide and depression for transgender youth.
“The most important thing that happened in oral argument from my perspective was a colloquy between Justice Alito and [ACLU counsel] Chase Strangio in which Strangio acknowledged Justice Alito’s point that these treatments do not reduce suicides for kids,” Mr. Skrmetti said.
“Because suicide is in part driven by these social contagion factors, the narrative matters, and it is important that we get out there that it is not an inevitable path to suicide if we block kids from getting these treatments,” he said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday grappled with whether Tennessee’s ban on medical treatment for transgender youth is discriminatory on the basis of sex, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, or if it’s rooted in protecting minors’ health and well-being.
The specific issue the justices are deciding is whether the state law, known as S.B. 1 enacted in 2023, which bans puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors, violates the Equal Protection Clause.
The Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the ban, arguing Tennessee’s restriction treats men and women differently because a boy who wants testosterone can get it, but a girl who wants it cannot.
“S.B. 1 has taken away the only treatment that has helped years of suffering,” said Mr. Strangio, who made history as the first transgender lawyer to argue before the justices.
In his exchange with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., Mr. Strangio had to answer if one of the leading reports on transgender youth, the Cass review from Britain, showed that medical treatments decreased suicide in transgender youth.
The report concluded there was weak evidence regarding the impact of early puberty suppression on gender dysphoria.
“I don’t regard the Cass review as — necessarily as — as the Bible or as something that’s, you know, true in every respect, but, on page 195 of the Cass report, it says: There is no evidence that gender-affirmative treatments reduce suicide,” Justice Alito said.
The Cass review concludes, “Tragically deaths by suicide in trans people of all ages continue to be above the national average, but there is no evidence that gender-affirmative treatments reduce this. Such evidence as is available suggests that these deaths are related to a range of other complex psychosocial factors and to mental illness.”
Mr. Strangio replied, “What I think that is referring to is there is no evidence in some in the studies that this treatment reduces completed suicide. And the reason for that is completed suicide, thankfully and admittedly, is rare and we’re talking about a very small population of individuals with studies that don’t necessarily have completed suicides within them.”
Mr. Strangio also said he believed science suggests that the treatments do help to decrease suicides.
“I do think it is clearly established in the science and in the record. I think, as with all underlying questions of looking at evidence, there can be disagreement. I don’t dispute that,” he said.
A spokesperson from the ACLU did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Three transgender minors, their parents and a doctor who has transgender youths as patients challenged Tennessee’s law.
Represented by the ACLU, they argue the children received puberty delaying medicine and hormone treatment which has allowed them to become happy and healthy.
It’s unclear how the incoming Trump administration, which takes office in January, may change the Justice Department’s position in the dispute. Although the justices heard arguments in the case Wednesday, a decision is not expected for months.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals let Tennessee’s ban take effect.
Tennessee officials say the state legislature heard from people who have detransitioned, and did research before passing the state ban.
Critics of the medical treatment for youth suffering from gender dysphoria have said it can cause infertility, among other health problems for children.
About 1% of Americans are transgender, according to the Justice Department filing.
A ruling in the trans youth medical ban case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, is expected by the end of June
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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