The Confusing State of Legal Challenges to Bans on Transgender Healthcare – By Katie Herchenroeder (Mother Jones) / Aug 28, 2023
Judicial decisions in Texas and Missouri show the unpredictable reality for trans youth.
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
The state of the legal challenges to laws banning gender-affirming care is, and will continue to be, confusing. The latest example is particularly striking. Last Friday, there were two major rulings. In Texas, a judge blocked a ban on gender-affirming healthcare, then her decision was paused by the state’s attorney general’s office. In Missouri, a judge ruled that a ban on care could go into effect.
These concurrent decisions add to the mounting anxiety for transgender youth and their loved ones across the country as legal battles are fought. While some hope that courts can halt these bans, it has been unclear what will happen next—and state-by-state decisions could vary. The ban on care in Missouri goes into effect today. Texas will soon follow.
“The courts told the transgender community, parents of gender-expansive youth, and the entire LGBTQ+ community that we do not exist, that we do not have the right to make our own medical decisions or the right to bodily autonomy,” Aro Royston, the board secretary for Missouri LGBTQ advocacy group PROMO, said in a statement following the ruling.
