Michigan’s attorney general joined a multistate coalition of 20 attorneys general in opposing laws in Kentucky and Tennessee that limit transgender youths’ access to lifesaving healthcare.
The plaintiffs in L.W. v Skrmetti are suing to block Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) and Kentucky’s SB 150, which restrict medical treatment for transgender minors seeking gender-affirming care. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a coalition, led by California, that filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in this case.
“The Tennessee and Kentucky laws serve to further marginalize a community that often feels invisible,” Nessel said. “These laws shove the state government between minor patients, their parents, and the recommendations of trusted medical specialists their families have chosen to care for them. I proudly stand with my colleagues in opposing these laws that do not comport with the way we should treat our children or our LGBTQ+ community.”
Tennessee’s SB 1 and Kentucky’s SB 150 are aimed at blocking transgender minors’ access to medical treatment such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers. Those treatments help treat gender dysphoria.
According to the press release, gender dysphoria results from the incongruence between gender identity and sex at birth. Gender dysphoria has been found to cause distress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and a poorer quality of life. Suicide attempts among transgender people are nine times more common than in the overall U.S. population.
The coalition supported the plaintiffs’ lawsuits and argued that the laws significantly harm the health and lives of transgender people by denying them medically necessary care. They also argued that the laws are discriminatory and violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by singling out medical care for transgender youth while permitting it for cisgender youth.
AG Nessel was joined by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.