District Judge Jay Moody, who was appointed by former President Obama, found the law violates the rights of transgender youth, their parents and their medical providers.
Moody said the state failed to prove many of its claims, including that doctors were negligently prescribing puberty blockers. In an 80-page opinion, Moody said the policy was discriminatory.
“Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that, by prohibiting it, the State undermined the interests it claims to be advancing,” Moody wrote.
“Further, the various claims underlying the State’s arguments that the Act protects children and safeguards medical ethics do not explain why only gender-affirming medical care — and all gender-affirming medical care — is singled out for prohibition,” he wrote.
The decision marks the first time a court has overturned a ban on youth gender-affirming care, and it comes as more than a dozen Republican-led states are adopting similar policies.
Arkansas was the first state to pass such a measure, as GOP lawmakers overrode a veto from then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) who said the bill was too broad and too extreme, and he did not want to interrupt treatments already underway.
The lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and named several transgender children and a doctor as plaintiffs. The decision followed a weeks-long bench trial in 2022.
The decision was hailed a major victory for the LGBTQ+ community, and activists said it will carry implications for other states as well.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
