Press Releases
08/11/2023
Attorney General Tong Joins 20 States in Opposing Anti-Transgender Laws in Tennessee, Kentucky
(Hartford, CT) -- Attorney General William Tong this week joined a multistate coalition of 20 attorneys general in opposing dangerous laws in Kentucky and Tennessee that severely limit transgender youths' access to critical and lifesaving healthcare. The plaintiffs in L.W. v Skrmetti are suing to block Tennessee’s Senate Bill (SB) 1 and Kentucky’s SB 150, which restrict medical treatment for transgender minors seeking gender-affirming care. Today, the coalition led by California filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs, stressing the importance of gender-affirming care for the health and well-being of transgender youth.“Partisan politicians need to stop micromanaging our private healthcare decisions, period. The Kentucky and Tennessee laws have no basis in sound medical judgment, and inflict serious, lasting harm to minors seeking gender-affirming care. I join attorneys general across the country in asking the court to block these discriminatory and damaging laws,” said Attorney General Tong.
Many transgender teens suffer from gender dysphoria, which results from the incongruence between gender identity and sex at birth. Gender dysphoria has been found to cause severe distress and anxiety, depression, fatigue, decreased social functioning, overreliance on drugs and alcohol, and a poorer quality of life. Among transgender people, suicide attempts are nine times more common than in the overall U.S. population. Those risks are even higher among transgender youth.
Tennessee’s SB 1 and Kentucky’s SB 150, enacted in March this year, are aimed at blocking transgender minors' access to medical treatment such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers that help treat gender dysphoria.
In their amicus brief, the coalition supported the plaintiffs' lawsuits seeking to block the enforcement of SB 1 and SB 150, arguing that the laws:
• Significantly harm the health and lives of transgender people by denying them medically necessary care that protects their physical, emotional, and psychological health.
• Are discriminatory and violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by singling out medical care for transgender youth while permitting it for cisgender youth.
In filing the amicus brief, Attorney General Tong joined the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
A copy of the amicus brief is available here.
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