A federal judge allowed a Georgia law banning hormonal interventions for transgender youth to take effect earlier this week, in order to comply with a federal court ruling last month.
On August 21, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court’s injunction blocking state authorities from enforcing a similar law in Alabama.
In a decision criticized by LGBTQ advocates, Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Trump appointee, ruled that the district court had applied the wrong standard when determining whether to issue an injunction blocking the law.
Lagoa argued that there is no constitutional right of parents to “treat [one’s] children with transitioning medications subject to medically accepted standards,” as argued by plaintiffs.
This comes even though the Supreme Court, in numerous other legal battles, has ruled parents possess a fundamental right to raise their children as they see fit.
As a result of Lagoa’s opinion, the Alabama law was allowed to go into effect. State authorities can punish doctors who prescribe gender-affirming treatments to minors suffering from gender dysphoria.
Given the 11th Circuit’s jurisdiction over Georgia, it was only a matter of time before the courts allowed authorities in the Peach State to enforce a nearly identical law — which technically went into effect on July 1 — barring those under age 18 from accessing gender-affirming treatments.
On September 5, U.S. District Judge Sarah Geraghty, of the Northern District of Georgia, issued an order pausing an injunction she issued on the day prior to the 11th Circuit’s decision.
In issuing that initial injunction, Geraghty found that a group of four transgender plaintiffs and their parents would suffer “irreparable harm” if the law were not halted while its constitutionality is debated in the courts.
Following the 11th Circuit’s decision, Geraghty paused the injunction, but refused — despite the protestations of proponents of the law — to completely vacate the injunction, reports The Hill.
As a result, Georgia can now discipline and potentially pull the medical licenses of practitioners who prescribe gender-affirming treatments to minors, including surgical and hormonal interventions.
Georgia’s law does contain a limited exception for youth who have already started hormone therapy by allowing them to continue their course of treatment, but bars new patients from accessing those same treatments.
And, hypocritically, Georgia’s law — which echoes similar legislation passed in 21 other states — also permits doctors to prescribe hormonal treatments and perform surgeries on intersex youth in order to “force” their bodies to conform to a binary gender expression or appearance.
In July, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a ban on gender-affirming care in Tennessee to take effect, ruling that a lower court judge applied the wrong legal standard in issuing an injunction blocking the law. That ruling was subsequently applied to overturn an injunction blocking a similar Kentucky law from being enforced.
Justice Department had demanded Boston Children's Hospital hand over patients' and employees' personal information under the guise of combating medical "fraud."
A federal judge has quashed a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice demanding that Boston Children’s Hospital turn over private medical information on youth receiving gender-affirming care, blasting the request as a “fishing expedition” aimed at prosecuting doctors under the guise of investigating health care fraud.
In his ruling, Judge Myong Joun, a Biden appointee, said the Justice Department sought an “astonishingly broad array of documents and information that are virtually unlimited in scope,” including patients’ Social Security numbers, home addresses, and personal details, as well as the complete personnel files of all 2,000 Boston Children’s Hospital employees, regardless of whether they had any involvement in providing gender-affirming care to minors.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) lashed out at Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), an LGBTQ ally whose brother is transgender, after Jacobs criticized Republicans for introducing a series of anti-transgender amendments to the annual National Defense Authorization Act.
Several of the amendments -- including some introduced by Mace herself -- target gender-affirming care for transgender service members. One Mace-backed measure would bar TRICARE, the military’s health insurance program, from covering gender-affirming treatments.
Two pharmacists are suing Walgreens and the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, alleging they were punished for refusing to dispense gender-affirming medications. They are seeking a religious exemption that would allow them to decline filling such prescriptions on moral grounds.
Minnesota law classifies it as unprofessional conduct for a pharmacist to refuse to dispense a valid prescription. Exceptions exist, but only for non-religious reasons, such as doubts about a drug's effectiveness.
State law also permits pharmacists to refuse prescriptions for abortion-inducing drugs. The plaintiffs argue the state should likewise clarify whether pharmacists can decline to dispense gender-affirming medications if doing so conflicts with their belief that gender is binary and fixed at birth, reports Minnesota Lawyer.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.