Amicus Brief affirms Congress’ support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth
Washington (September 3, 2024) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Representatives Mark Pocan (WI-02), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), and Frank Pallone (NJ-06), today led 159 of their colleagues in submitting an amicus brief in United States v. Skrmetti, the first case where the U.S. Supreme Court will determine if statewide bans for gender-affirming care for transgender youth are constitutional. The members’ brief urges the Court to strike Tennessee’s ban, highlighting that the ban is driven by animosity towards transgender people and how health care bans dictate decisions that should be made between patients, health providers, and their families.
This term, the Supreme Court will decide whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB1), a law that prohibits gender-affirming care for transgender youth, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. SB1 prohibits medical treatment, including puberty blockers or hormones, for transgender children and adolescents while allowing the same treatment for cisgender children and adolescents. Gender-affirming care is proven safe, effective, and medically necessary
If the Supreme Court affirms the 6th Circuit’s decision, the health care of 100,000 transgender youth in 25 states with total or partial bans on gender-affirming care would be immediately at risk. In 2024, to date, more than 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been filed in state legislatures across the country limiting transgender Americans’ access to health care, education, bathrooms, and sports. The Supreme Court’s decision in Skrmetti could also impact how courts consider constitutional challenges to all forms of government discrimination against transgender people. The case also has broader potential implications regarding the rights and bodily autonomy of all Americans.
“For years, far-right Republicans have been leading constant, relentless, and escalating attacks on transgender Americans. Their age-old, discriminatory playbook now threatens access to lifesaving, gender-affirming care for more than 100,000 transgender and nonbinary children living in states with these bans if the Supreme Court upholds laws like Tennessee’s at the heart of Skrmetti that are fueled by ignorance and hate.” said Senator Markey. “It takes a special type of cruelty to target children for who they are. I am proud to stand with my colleagues against dangerous, transphobic attacks and to reaffirm that our nation’s commitment should be to equality and justice for all.”
“Decisions about healthcare belong to patients, their doctors, and their families—not politicians,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “The law at issue in this case is motivated by an animus towards the trans community and is part of a cruel, coordinated attack on trans rights by anti-equality extremists. We strongly urge the Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution’s promise of equal protection under the law and strike down Tennessee’s harmful ban.”
“Access to medically necessary care for trans youth saves lives,” said Senator Merkley, author of the Equality Act. “Unending attacks from MAGA extremists across the nation are putting trans youth at risk with hateful laws to ban gender-affirming care. Let’s get politicians—who have no expertise in making decisions for patients—out of the exam room. The Court must reject these divisive policies, and Congress must pass the Equality Act to fully realize a more equal and just union for all.”
“Tennessee’s discriminatory ban on transgender minors’ access to necessary healthcare is an illegitimate law enacted as part of a nationwide movement to villainize trans people for political gain” said House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler. “Transgender people deserve the same access to healthcare as everyone else. There is no constitutionally sound justification to strip from families with transgender children, and their doctors, the decision to seek medical care and give it to politicians sitting in the State Capitol. I trust parents, not politicians, to decide what is best for their transgender children.”
“This case is about the freedom to access medically necessary care,” said Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member Pallone. “Tennessee’s SB1 is a clear violation of the Constitution and blatantly interferes in doctors’ ability to care for their patients in consultation with their families. Moreover, if allowed to stand, it will establish a dangerous precedent that will open the floodgates to further discrimination against transgender Americans.”
The lawmakers underscore that laws such as SB1 place legislators between health providers and patients and their families’ preferred course of treatment - treatment that has been endorsed by every major medical association as safe, effective, and necessary.
“Patients, their parents, and their health-care providers are best situated to decide about any given treatment for gender dysphoria. Nothing in the record justifies Tennessee intervening in such medical decision-making, much less substantially so. To the contrary, banning these therapies for gender dysphoria poses significant risk of harm to adolescents,” the members wrote.
The brief goes on to make clear that Tennessee passed this law, not to advance public health, but to target a marginalized population who has been the target of rising onslaught of transphobic legislation, rhetoric, and physical violence in recent years.
“Across the United States, proponents of these bills have made their animosity toward transgender people clear,” the members continued. “They have done so in interviews, in strategy presentations, in letters, in committee hearings, in floor speeches, and elsewhere—many more times than can be discussed in one brief. Although inferences of improper or pretextual legislative purpose should be rare, the public record here supports one. It is clear to amici that these bills are pressed not for legitimate governing purposes. The bills target a small, vulnerable minority and deny its members necessary health care that remains available to others. The bills contradict not only medical science, but long-established standards of care for patients seeking treatment. And rhetoric of the proponents bears no relation to the reality experienced by patients and their families.”
The brief is cosigned in the Senate by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
The brief is cosigned in the House of Representatives by House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (CA-11), House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05), and Representatives Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. (NC-12), Pete Aguilar (CA-33), Colin Z. Allred (TX-32), Gabe Amo (RI-01), Becca Balint (VT), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Joyce Beatty (OH-03), Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-06), Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Shontel M. Brown (OH-11), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Cori Bush (MO-01), Yadira Caraveo (CO-08), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Antonio Cárdenas (CA-29), Greg Casar (TX-35), Sean Casten (IL-06), Kathy Castor (FL-14), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Judy Chu (CA-28), Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Emanuel Cleaver II (MO-05), James E. Clyburn (SC-06), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11), Joe Courtney (CT-02), Angie Craig (MN-02), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Sharice L. Davids (KS-03), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Madeline Dean (PA-04), Diana DeGette (CO-01), Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-03), Suzan K. DelBene (WA-01), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Anna Eshoo (CA-16), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Bill Foster (IL-11), Valerie P. Foushee (NC-04), Lois Frankel (FL-22), Maxwell Alejandro Frost (FL-10), Ruben Gallego (AZ-03), John Garamendi (CA-08), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Sylvia R. Garcia (TX-29), Jesús G. “Chuy” Garcia (IL-04), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Al Green (TX-09), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07), Jahana Hayes (CA-05), Steven Horsford (NV-04), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Jonathan L. Jackson (IL-01), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson Jr. (GA-04), William R. Keating (MA-09), Timothy M. Kennedy (NY-26), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Daniel T. Kildee (MI-08), Derek Kilmer (WA-06), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Greg Landsman (OH-01), John B. Larson (CT-01), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Summer L. Lee (PA-12), Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), Mike Levin (CA-49), Ted W. Lieu (CA-36), Stephen F. Lynch (MA-08), Doris Matsui (CA-07), Jennifer L. McClellan (VA-04), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Morgan McGarvey (KY-03), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Gregory Meeks (NY-05), Robert J. Menendez (NJ-08), Grace Meng (NY-06), Gwen S. Moore (WI-04), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Richard E. Neal (MA-01), Joe Neguse (CO-02), Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Chris Pappas (NH-01), Scott H. Peters (CA-50), Dean Phillips (MN-03), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Katie Porter (CA-47), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Deborah K. Ross (NC-02), Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-25), Patrick K. Ryan (NY-18), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Linda T. Sánchez (CA-38), John P. Sarbanes (MD-03), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Adam B. Schiff (CA-30), Brad S. Schneider (IL-10), Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08), Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), Brad Sherman (CA-32), Mikie Sherril (NJ-11), Eric Sorenson (IL-17), Darren Soto (FL-09), Abigail Spanberger (VA-07), Melanie A. Stansbury (NM-01), Greg Stanton (AZ-04), Haley M. Stevens (MI-11), Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Eric Swalwell (CA-14), Mark Takano (CA-39), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02), Mike Thompson (CA-04), Dina Titus (NV-01), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Paul D. Tonko (NY-20), Norma J. Torres (CA-35), Ritchie Torres (NY-15), Lori Trahan (MA-03), David Trone (MD-06), Lauren Underwood (IL-14), Gabe Vasquez (NM-02), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Maxine Waters (CA-43), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Jennifer Wexton (VA-10), Nikema Williams (GA-05), and Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24).
The brief is supported by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Human Rights Campaign.
“Thank you to the many Members of Congress for standing with transgender and non-binary youth across our country in asking the Supreme Court to find bans on life-saving gender-affirming care to be unconstitutional,” said David Stacy, Human Rights Campaign Vice President of Government Affairs. “The government should not be able to interfere in decisions that are best made between families and doctors, particularly when that care is necessary and best practice. These bans are dangerous, animated purely by anti-transgender bias, and have forced families to make heartbreaking decisions to support their children.”
A copy of the amicus brief can be found HERE.
In March 2024, Senator Markey hosted an LGBTQ+ roundtable with transgender and nonbinary leaders in Massachusetts to hear about how the federal government can advance the health, safety, and wellbeing of the LGBTQ+ community. In June 2023, Senator Markey introduced the Gender Affirming Care Access Research For Equity (CARE) Act to fund research at the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on barriers to gender-affirming care, and the impacts on health outcomes. In March 2023, Senator Markey and Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) introduced the Transgender Bill of Rights, a resolution to recognize the federal government’s duty in protecting and codifying the rights of transgender and nonbinary people, as well as to ensure transgender people have access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security. That same month, Senator Markey led his colleagues in a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to ensure access to gender-affirming care and to conduct research on the impact of transphobic state bills on access to care.
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