The law, passed in the state’s Republican-led House of Representatives, bans young people from receiving gender-affirming care.
The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Tennessee’s new law barring transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care, one of several laws the state’s Republican-dominated legislature enacted this year targeting LGBTQ+ people .
The federal government is seeking to void the statute because “no one should be denied access to necessary medical care solely because of their transgender status,” U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement.
The Justice Department said the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution by discriminating based on both gender and transgender status.
“The right to consider your health and medically approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right everyone should have, including transgender children, who are particularly vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety and suicide,” Clarke added.
The federal lawsuit comes after Clarke sent a letter last month to all attorneys general warning them that federal law protects transgender youth from discrimination. The Justice Department also intervened last year in a lawsuit against a similar ban on transgender medical care for youth. That lawsuit is still pending.
Earlier this year, Republican Governor Bill Lee signed into law a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
The bill was the first bill introduced during this year’s legislature. Republican leaders did this in response to a video surfacing on social media last year of a Nashville physician touting gender-affirming procedures as “massive money-makers” for hospitals.
That hospital has since discontinued its transgender youth services.
Republican lawmakers have also developed legislation to severely restrict where drag shows can take place, making Tennessee the first state to do so. A federal judge has temporarily blocked implementation of the statute.
Nationally, Republican lawmakers have proposed hundreds of laws targeting transgender people, with at least 14 states restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Under Tennessee law, which goes into effect July 1, doctors are prohibited from prescribing puberty blockers, hormones, or providing other gender-affirming care to anyone under the age of 18. if the patient’s care begins before the law takes effect. Then the care must be terminated by 31 March 2024 at the latest.
Healthcare providers who violate the ban would be subject to regulatory discipline and could be sued by the Attorney General or by private parties. Violations are subject to a $25,000 fine.
A spokesman for the Tennessee attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to comment.
The Justice Department lawsuit is the second complaint against the new law in Tennessee. Last week, three transgender children and their parents sued the state, alleging the law violates the Equal Protection Clause in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment because it excludes treatment for gender dysphoria while the same treatments are used for other diseases.