Things to know as courts and legislatures act on transgender kids’ rights

Three court rulings in the US this week took issue with laws restricting the rights of transgender children, including the first time the US Supreme Court got involved in a ban on gender-affirming care.

Most Republican-controlled states have now banned gender-affirming health care, such as puberty blockers and hormones for transgender minors, and have barred transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports competitions.

Most measures face legal challenges, and this week’s rulings went both ways. The Supreme Court said Idaho can maintain its ban on gender-affirming health for minors as long as the lawsuits continue. An Ohio judge has suspended a law against health care and sports participation that was about to go into effect. And a federal appeals court ruled that West Virginia cannot prevent a transgender girl from competing on her school’s track team.

Here’s what you need to know about the court rulings and the latest legislative measures.

On Tuesday, an Ohio judge blocked enforcement of a law set to take effect April 24 that would ban gender-affirming care for minors and ban transgender girls from girls’ sports teams in schools.

Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook said in his written opinion that it is likely that the law, passed in January with a legislative override of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto, violates a requirement that state laws address only one issue. He noted that lawmakers added the ban on gender-affirming care to the sports-related legislation because they could not pass it separately.

The ban on enforcement is in effect for two weeks or until a judge holds a hearing on a request to halt enforcement while the case makes its way through the courts.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Idaho can uphold its ban on providing puberty blockers or hormones to minors. The law also bans gender confirmation surgery, which is extremely rare for people under 18 anyway.

At least 20 states have passed similar bans into law in recent years, and almost all of them have been challenged in court. Twenty other states currently enforce them.

The Idaho ruling marked the first time the issue reached the Supreme Court.

But the judges did not address the constitutionality of the ban. Instead, they ruled 6-3 that enforcement could proceed, except against the two transgender teens who filed suit. And most of the judge’s written opinions focused on the judicial process, examining whether it is right for courts to impose universal injunctions that block laws while questions about them move through the courts.

The first ban on gender-affirming care for minors was passed by Arkansas in 2021.

It was also the first to be completely — and not just temporarily — blocked by a federal court.

Last week, 10 judges of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis heard arguments on Arkansas’ appeal of the ruling blocking the law.

Circuit court appeals often take months to be decided, and any ruling will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has already been asked to block similar laws in effect in Kentucky and Tennessee.

A three-judge panel of another federal appeals court, the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit, ruled 2-1 Tuesday that West Virginia’s ban on girls’ sports competitions by transgender girls violates the rights of a teenage athlete who challenged the ban.

The result: 13-year-old Becky Pepper Jackson, who has identified as a girl since she was in third grade, can stay on her high school’s girls cross country and track teams.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement that the ban would continue to apply to others, although a spokesperson for the ACLU-West Virginia said it was not clear that there were any other children in the state affected by the law.

Other judges have temporarily blocked enforcement in Arizona, Idaho and Utah. But the New York City-based 2nd Circuit revived a challenge to Connecticut’s policy to allow transgender girls to compete in girls’ sports, sending it back to a lower court last year without ruling on its merits.

At least 24 states have laws or policies banning transgender girls and women from certain sports competitions, and most enforce these laws.

And some local bans are facing lawsuits: A federal judge has declined to block the New York state government from taking legal action against Nassau County’s ban, which is also being challenged by a local roller derby league.

The pace of Republican efforts to pass state restrictions has slowed this year, but measures before the Legislature continue to target transgender people.

On Monday, Tennessee lawmakers gave near-final approval to a bill that would require public school employees to notify parents if their student identifies as transgender at school. States such as Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana and North Carolina have already passed similar laws.

Last week, Alabama lawmakers proposed legislation to define who is considered male or female based on reproductive systems rather than gender identity. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states are also trying to codify a definition of the genders this year.