The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in United States v. Skrmetti, a case dealing with a Tennessee ban on transgender medical interventions for minors. The claim is that the ban qualifies as discrimination under the 14th Amendment and its equal protection clause. State Solicitor General J. Matthew Rice and ACLU attorney Chase Strangio, a biological woman and first transgender lawyer to appear before the Supreme Court, argued their respective sides before the justices.
The decision will likely be handed down in June. Whatever the outcome, it will greatly affect the nation as 26 states have banned such treatments. It is one thing to allow unrestricted access to adults who seek to transition. Americans may disagree but do not bar them from making these and other adult-sized decisions. But when minors are involved, it is a different story entirely.
During an appearance on CNN before the Supreme Court arguments, Strangio said of minors receiving gender-affirming care, “These are young people who may have known since they were two years old exactly who they are. Who suffered for six or seven years before they had any relief.”
Strangio goes on to say, “It’s not the kids who are consenting to this treatment. It’s the parents who are consenting to this treatment.”
Strangio’s explanations are absurd but illuminating. Two-year-olds do not have the physical, mental, or emotional maturity to understand anything related to gender or sex. Looking to toddlers, young children, or adolescents as their own guides in this or any major life-altering decision is, frankly, child endangerment. And by saying parents are responsible for consenting to an actual course of treatment, Strangio admits the pursuit of so-called “gender-affirming care” is thrust upon minors by their guardians.
In a guest essay at the New York Times earlier this week, Strangio declared, “Trans health saved my life.” But the piece details how Strangio didn’t even transition until early adulthood. Children and young people deserve much better.
The Cass report by Dr. Hilary Cass, published in April, resulted in the U.K. banning puberty blockers for minors. The evidence in the report overwhelmingly encourages a cautious approach when it comes to children and gender dysphoria. According to Do No Harm, “Dr. Cass rightfully acknowledges that the medical pathway is not the best way to manage gender-related distress in young people and that it is impossible to identify which children might persist in their feeling of gender dysphoria. Preventing children from accessing these irreversible interventions is the only sensible path forward.”
At the Supreme Court, Strangio admitted during a discussion of the Cass report with Justice Samuel Alito that gender-affirming care “does not reduce completed suicides.” In another exchange, Alito powerfully pointed out that transgenderism is not an immutable characteristic and, therefore, the Tennessee ban is not discrimination.
In August 2020, the American Journal of Psychiatry published a correction of a paper on sex reassignment released less than a year before. Despite what had previously been published, the correction of the study concluded that surgery did not improve mood or anxiety. The original paper had already found the same thing when it came to hormone treatments.
In a piece for the Heritage Foundation titled “‘Transitioning’ Procedures Don’t Help Mental Health, Largest Dataset Shows,” Ryan Anderson concluded, “Now the world’s largest relevant dataset reveals hormones and surgeries don’t bring wholeness and happiness. We need to find better, more humane, and effective responses to those who experience dysphoria.”
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A fast-track approach to “solving” problems of gender dysphoria in children is dangerous and does not improve long-term mental health. Women such as Nikita Teran, who transitioned and detransitioned in adulthood, and Chloe Cole, who did both as a minor, are proof that transitioning is a life-altering decision anyone of any age may come to regret.
Decisions of such consequence should not be taken lightly. And they should not be shoved onto children even if they feel they don’t belong in their own bodies. Banning minors from participating in and receiving these procedures and medical therapies is not discrimination. It’s safeguarding individual lives and futures from major regret and protecting mental health along the way.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a contributing freelance columnist at the Freemen News-Letter.
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