Texas Supreme Court upholds ban on youth gender transitions. It’s the largest state with such a law:
The Texas Supreme Court upheld the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youths Friday, rejecting pleas from parents that it violates their right to decide on and seek medical care for their children.
The 8-1 ruling from the all-Republican court leaves in place a law that has been in effect since Sept. 1, 2023. Texas is the largest of at least 25 states that have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
The Texas law prevents transgender people under 18 from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and transition surgeries, though surgical procedures are rarely performed on children. Children who had already started the medications had to taper off their use.
“We conclude the Legislature made a permissible, rational policy choice to limit the types of available medical procedures for children, particularly in light of the relative nascency of both gender dysphoria and its various modes of treatment and the Legislature’s express constitutional authority to regulate the practice of medicine,” Justice Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle wrote in the court’s decision.
The lawsuit that challenged the Texas law argued it devastates transgender teens who are unable to obtain critical treatment recommended by their physicians and parents. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates about 29,800 people ages 13-17 in Texas identify as transgender.
The only justice dissenting with Friday’s ruling said the Texas Supreme Court was allowing the state to “legislate away fundamental parental rights.”
“The State’s categorical statutory prohibition prevents these parents, and many others, from developing individualized treatment plans for their children in consultation with their physicians, even the children for whom treatment could be lifesaving,” Justice Debra Lehrmann wrote in a dissenting opinion. “The law is not only cruel — it is unconstitutional.”
A lower court had ruled the law unconstitutional, but it was allowed to take effect while the state Supreme Court considered the case.
Texas’ Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, vowed in a post on the social platform X after the ruling that his office “will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that doctors and medical institutions follow the law.” --->READ MORE HERE
Ohio House Passes Transgender Bathroom and Locker Room Ban:
Lawmakers in the Ohio House passed a bill banning students who call themselves transgender from using bathrooms and locker rooms of the opposite sex.
The bill, known as House Bill 183 (H.B. 183), was introduced by state Reps. Beth Lear (R) and Adam Bird (R) and was added to Senate Bill 104 (S.B. 104) as an amendment in a 60-31 vote, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
In response to the bill that was signed on Wednesday, Lear stated that boys and girls should not be allowed to “be in locker rooms” and bathrooms together and “should not be sharing overnight accommodations.”
“Boys and girls should not be in locker rooms together,” Lear said in a statement. “They should not be in bathrooms together and they should not be sharing overnight accommodations.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) stated that he “would sign the bill.” The bill will move on to the Ohio Senate, where it will be reviewed when lawmakers return after November.
Under the bill, students in K-12 schools and colleges in the state who call themselves transgender would only be allowed to use the bathroom or locker room that corresponds with their assigned gender at birth.
The outlet notes that the bill “would not apply to someone helping” people with disabilities or parents helping “a child younger than 10 years old”: --->READ MORE HERE
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