In a 6-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to allow the state of Idaho to implement its prohibition on gender-altering medical treatments for minors that could result in lasting harm, at least temporarily.
The court’s six conservatives overruled its three far-left liberals, with CBS News reporting that “the stay does not apply to the two transgender teenage plaintiffs in the case and the care they are seeking, but blocks the more expansive portions of the lower court’s decision.”
“The district court’s order promised to run for the life of this lawsuit, thus preventing Idaho from executing any aspect of its law for years. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs face no harm from the partial stay the State requests,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority in an opinion joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The decision was condemned by the ACLU, who is acting as legal counsel for the plaintiffs in the case.
“While the court’s ruling today importantly does not touch upon the constitutionality of this law, it is nonetheless an awful result for transgender youth and their families across the state,” the groups said. “Today’s ruling allows the state to shut down the care that thousands of families rely on while sowing further confusion and disruption. Nonetheless, today’s result only leaves us all the more determined to defeat this law in the courts entirely, making Idaho a safer state to raise every family.”
Detractors have condemned what they refer to as “gender-affirming care” for minors, labeling it as appalling and harmful. They argue that permanently altering a child’s body for political reasons is both cruel and inhumane.
These critics have called on states to enact legislation that prohibits minors from undergoing such treatments, advocating for such decisions to be postponed until they reach adulthood.
The legal dispute revolves around Idaho’s Vulnerable Child Protection Act, also known as H.B. 71, which was enacted by Republican Governor Brad Little in the previous year.
Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, Idaho officials requested an emergency injunction from the U.S. Supreme Court after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to do so.
CBS News reported that over 20 states have laws similar to Idaho’s, although their enforcement has been blocked by courts in certain instances. One advocate opposing surgeries that alter children in the name of ‘gender dysphoria’ is SiriusXM podcaster Megyn Kelly.
The measure bars health care providers in the state from providing certain medications or surgeries “for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.”
Prohibited treatments under the law include puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapy, and surgical procedures. Those found in violation of the law could potentially be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined.
“Plaintiffs only seek estrogen hormone therapies, yet the district court issued a universal injunction against the law in its entirety, stopping enforcement even in situations where Plaintiffs’ experts agree medical intervention is not appropriate,” Idaho officials wrote. “Those applications involve the most extreme surgical treatments and the most vulnerable minors, who will lose the protections of Idaho’s law and will instead be governed by an injunction obtained by others who do not and cannot speak for them.”
In a recent podcast episode, she offered sincere apologies to her audience while also praising Caitlyn Jenner for advocating against transgender athletes participating in sports competitions with individuals of the opposite biological sex.
Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, an Olympic champion swimmer and vocal conservative who transitioned in 2015, has criticized the participation of biological men in women’s sports, arguing that they should only compete against other men.
“Caitlyn Jenner is out there every day tweeting about this kind of thing. Caitlin understands how unfair this is,” the journalist alleged in a segment during her Thursday podcast of “The Megyn Kelly Show.” “It’s not about trans people.”
“I think most trans people probably agree with us,” Kelly claimed, per OK! magazine. “It’s just the few who try to take advantage of sport, and it’s always a male-to-female trans person. It’s never the other way around. Why? Because we’re the ones who can be taken advantage of.”
