Supreme Court Tells Courts to Revisit Transgender Rulings
The ruling in Tennessee’s gender-affirming care case could unravel key legal wins for transgender Americans as lower courts are told to take another look.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered lower federal courts to revisit pro-transgender rulings after siding with Tennessee in a 6-3 decision upholding the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
In its June 30 ruling, the Court found the law did not discriminate based on sex or transgender status — and while it did not address other laws affecting transgender Americans, it opened the door for states to impose even broader restrictions on transgender rights and legal protections.
As reported by CNN, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett wrote in concurring opinions that courts should not be required to closely scrutinize laws alleged to discriminate against transgender people.
While the majority of the court did not embrace the view, if those three can convince two of their colleagues that laws restricting transgender rights are not discriminatory in a future case, conservative states could be free to pass whatever anti-transgender laws they wish.
As a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must now review a decision involving insurance exclusions in West Virginia and North Carolina, according to the Associated Press.
The appeals court had previously ruled that West Virginia’s ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgery, and North Carolina’s exclusion of transition-related care from state employee health plans, were unconstitutional.
The court also held that the exclusions discriminated against transgender individuals based on sex and transgender status, violating both the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In California, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must reconsider a case challenging Idaho’s ban on Medicaid coverage for transition-related surgery for adults.
In Colorado, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must also revisit a decision that blocked Oklahoma from enforcing a ban on changing gender markers on birth certificates.
In a separate case, the Court declined to hear an appeal from transgender minors and their families seeking to overturn Kentucky’s ban on gender-affirming care — a law nearly identical to Tennessee’s and challenged on the same legal grounds.
The Supreme Court took no action on appeals court decisions in cases from Arizona, Idaho, and West Virginia involving bans on transgender students participating on female-designated sports teams. In all three, the 4th and 9th Circuits found the laws likely discriminatory and unconstitutional. However, the high court could choose to hear one or more of the cases in its next term, which begins in October.
During the recent federal shutdown, the Trump administration changed the name on Rachel Levine's portrait at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, replacing her legal name with her pre-transition one.
Levine made history in 2021 as the first out transgender person confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a sub-cabinet role, serving nearly four years as Assistant Secretary of Health in the Biden administration and later becoming a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
Levine’s portrait hangs on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C., alongside those of others who have led the U.S. Public Health Service. She has offered little commentary on the deadnaming, telling NPR it was an honor to serve as Assistant Secretary of Health. "I'm not going to comment on this type of petty action," she said.
The year's nearly out. Sometimes that calls for taking sweet stock of the past months' wonderful events. Coming to the end of 2025, on the other hand, is more like getting to that denouement in the action movie where the survivors take a breath and pat each other on the back for having made it out alive. At this stage, we are Newt getting tucked-in to her Sulaco hibernation tube.
With some effort and a pinch of luck, may we all fare better in 2026 than poor Newt's end at the start of Alien 3.
Why such a shitty year? So much of it, obviously, can be laid at the feet of Lame Duck Donald. Not that he hasn't had loads of assistance in his evil efforts to erase our transgender family and friends, colleagues, and leaders during 2025. The purge, as promised, began right out of the gate on Inauguration Day.
The Dallas Landmark Commission unanimously approved rainbow-colored steps outside Oak Lawn United Methodist Church as a temporary art installation, allowing the display to remain for up to three years despite objections that they violate historic preservation codes.
As a designated historic site, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church is required to seek city approval before making major exterior changes, including paint colors, according to Dallas-area PBS/NPR affiliate KERA.
The LGBTQ-welcoming church did not submit an application to the landmark commission before repainting its exterior steps in the colors of the "Progress Pride" flag, incorporating the traditional rainbow along with black and brown stripes and the blue, pink, and white of the transgender Pride flag.
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