Update: On June 18, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its ruling nan United States v. Skrmetti, upholding Tennessee’s ban on health care for transgender youth. This decision has no impact in states where health care for transgender youth is not currently banned. Read GLAD Law’s response to the ruling.

Supreme Court of the United States

The U.S. Supreme Court will review a ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that let Tennessee and Kentucky enforce bans on transgender health care while lawsuits against the bans continue. The key question is whether laws that block transgender people from accessing health care because they are transgender violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

In September 2024, Kentucky parents of transgender children and a wide array of civil rights groups filed an amicus brief nan United States v. Skrmetti. They are represented by GLAD Law, NCLR, the ACLU of Kentucky, and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

The brief argues that the bans in Tennessee and Kentucky, like those passed in other states, intentionally discriminate against transgender youth by denying them medications that are prescribed for other youth. These laws do not ban these medications for all minors, but only when they are prescribed for transgender minors. As a result of this discriminatory treatment, transgender youth are unable to obtain the only effective treatment for the severe distress caused by gender dysphoria. 

Check out GLAD Law Staff Attorney, Lisa Rodriguez-Ross, explaining what is at stake in this case.

YouTube #!trpst#trp-gettext data-trpgettextoriginal=210#!trpen#videyo#!trpst#/trp-gettext#!trpen#

6th Circuit Court of Appeals

GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), Campaign for Southern Equality and eleven other women’s, healthcare and LGBTQ+ organizations filed an amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief in the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit in August 2023 urging reinstatement of the court order preventing enforcement of transgender healthcare bans for adolescents in Tennessee and Kentucky while the legal challenges to those bans continue.

The brief argues that Tennessee and Kentucky state laws prohibiting doctors from providing healthcare to transgender adolescents discriminate on the basis of sex, and are therefore subject to heightened judicial scrutiny. These bans target transgender adolescents to deny them care, even when they, their doctors and their parents agree it is essential for their health. Such laws reflect hostility and serve only to harm young people.

The amici are organizations committed to ensuring everyone, including women and LGBTQ+ people, can access the healthcare they need, In addition to GLAD Law and NWLC, the organizations joining the friend-of-the-court brief are:

  • Campaign for Southern Equality
  • Equality Federation
  • Family Equality
  • Human Rights Campaign
  • Memphis Center for Reproductive Health
  • National Center for Transgender Equality,
  • OUTMemphis
  • Southern Legal Counsel
  • Southern Poverty Law Center
  • Tennessee Equality Project
  • Trevor Project
  • White Coats for Trans Youth

L.W. v. Skrmetti was filed by the ACLU, ACLU of Oklahoma, ak Lambda Legal. Doe v. Thornbury was filed by the ACLU of Kentucky epi National Center for LGBTQ Rights.