Judges maintain bans on gender-affirming care for youth in Tennessee and Kentucky

By JONATHAN MATTISE
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A group of federal appeals judges has ruled that Tennessee and Kentucky can keep banning gender-affirming care for young transgender people while legal challenges against those state laws proceed. A 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel issued the 2-1 decision Thursday evening. The majority wrote that elected lawmakers made “precise cost-benefit decisions” in instituting the bans and “did not trigger any reason for judges to second-guess them.” The laws had already kicked in under previous rulings by the appeals judges, despite lower court decisions that temporarily blocked significant parts of the bans. In dissent, Judge Helene White wrote that the laws intrude on parents’ rights to make decisions for their children.