Families sue over Georgia law restricting gender-affirming care for transgender youth

Four families have filed a lawsuit against a Georgia law placing restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, arguing that it violates parents’ rights and equal protection guarantees. 

The families filed the complaint on Thursday to request a judge issue an injunction to prevent the ban from taking effect, which it is set to do on Saturday. 

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed the ban into law in March to prohibit minors from receiving hormone replacement therapies and sex reassignment surgeries from licensed health care facilities to treat gender dysphoria. The law calls for a “wait-and-see approach” of allowing transgender children to receive counseling and “allowing the child time to mature and develop his or her own identity.” 

Medical providers could lose their licenses if they violate the law. 

The lawsuit, filed by plaintiffs listed with anonymous names for their own safety, argues that the ban violates parents’ rights to make medical decisions for their children’s health and wellbeing and stops them from obtaining appropriate medical treatment for their children who have gender dysphoria. 

The plaintiffs also argue that it violates the guarantee of equal protection from the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution in denying transgender youth “essential, and often lifesaving,” medical treatment based on their sex and gender status. 

“Defendants cannot demonstrate any rational basis, much less an important or compelling one, for the Health Care Ban, which prevents transgender youth from obtaining safe, established, and necessary medical care,” the complaint states. 

A resource organization that supports parents and caregivers for transgender youth, TransParent, also joined the lawsuit along with the parents of transgender children. 

Beth Littrell, the senior supervising attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s LGBTQ rights and special litigation, said in a release that the ban on “necessary medical care is just cruel.” The center is representing the plaintiffs along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, the Human Rights Foundation and the law firm O’Melveny & Myers. 

“The Healthcare Ban displaces parents’ ability to make decisions in the best interest of their children, disregards the collective knowledge of the medical community, and condemns children to years of suffering,” Littrell said. “Laws like this are predicated on prejudice, misinformation, and manufactured fears, and they are as indefensible as they are unconstitutional.” 

The release notes that similar bans have been blocked in half a dozen states: Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida.