The Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022 to present.
On Monday, the 16-year-old transgender girl at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Skrmetti (identified in court documents as LW) spoke to ABC News about the upcoming landmark transgender healthcare case.
“The court has definitely ruled in ways that would make me think that they don’t exactly value bodily autonomy, but I have heard that they’ve been a little bit better about trans cases than people would think,” she said alongside her parents Samantha and Brian Williams.
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The case, which concerns Tennessee’s 2023 ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors, is to be heard on Wednesday. The Williams family, with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union and the first openly transgender attorney to present in front of the Supreme Court, Chase Strangio, are challenging the legality of the legislation.
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This healthcare, which includes puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy, was game changing for LW. Since the passing of the law, she now has to take a 10-hour trip out of state to receive this care.
“It’s not very comfortable being trapped in (your body) because it just doesn’t feel like you,” she said. She has to repeatedly take time out of school while her family loses a significant amount of money. “It would definitely be horrible for me to have to continue to go out of state to get care. I feel normal now.”
LW’s mother, Samantha, feels that it is incredibly hypocritical of the Tennessee government to restrict healthcare when it’s politically convenient, rather than sticking to their previously stated morals of advocating for parental rights.
“Our state legislature had made such a big deal out of parents’ rights during COVID, about masks and vaccines that that’s for parents to decide these medical decisions for their children. And then they made this medical decision for our child,” she said.
The decision to give their child essential healthcare was not done lightly. They talked to medical professionals and mental health providers for months after months, ultimately feeling that masculinizing puberty was going to continue to harm LW.
LW’s father Brian Williams commented, “There is this time clock sitting here. The kids can go through puberty and it can have permanent effects on them. So these two things you’re trying to balance at the same time.”
Puberty blockers, which have come under fire recently from opponents to transgender rights, are regarded as one of the most safe and well-tested means of ensuring that transgender youth can delay their puberty until professionals decide they’re ready for hormone replacement therapy. Previously developed to treat early-onset puberty, they’ve since been shown to be effective and safe in transgender youth.
However, they are not protective inherently – their purpose is to delay puberty, but that in of itself does not mean that youth are free from dysphoria. They are only useful in preventing further gender dysphoria from developing.
Not receiving this essential healthcare leads many individuals to develop suicidal thoughts, major psychological professional associations have advised. This was a big concern for the Williams. “She’s not suicidal, but she shouldn’t have to be suicidal, right?, to get the care that she needs,” added LW’s mother. “When that really hit me, I was like, ‘OK, let’s do blockers. Let’s get moving.’”
LW reports that after starting hormones, she was significantly better off. “That was incredibly helpful. I feel amazing after that. You know, maybe it’s just because the gender dysphoria was so bad.”
They feel that the politicization of transgender healthcare is detrimental to youth across the country. Brian Williams said, “I want to listen to the doctors. I want to listen to my kid. I want to take care of her, you know?”
About half of states across the country restrict gender affirming care for minors, in spite of numerous medical organizations – including the leading medical body American Academy of Pediatrics – saying that gender affirming care for minors is completely safe and effective.
Other organizations that have spoken out in favor of gender affirming care include the Endocrine Society, American Psychological Association, among others.
Strangio emphasizes the importance of this case to transgender rights. “This is one of the most significant LGBTQ cases to ever reach the Supreme Court. I think this is an inflection point,” he said to ABC News.
Referencing two U.S. Supreme Court cases that upheld and struck down anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination respectively, Strangio asked, “Is this going to be a Bowers v. Hardwick type moment that sets off years of government legitimized discrimination against LGBTQ people? Or, is this going to be a Bostock moment that clarifies what we all have been assuming all this time, which is that LGBTQ people are protected under the Constitution and civil rights laws.”
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