GLMA Strongly Condemns Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Tennessee Ban on Trans Health Care
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18, 2025
Contact: Eli Duffy
Director of Communications & Strategic Partnerships
eduffy@glma.org
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to protect transgender youth from discriminatory care bans, allowing Tennessee’s law restricting gender-affirming care for youth to stand. Rather than affirming the rights of trans youth to receive medically-necessary care and the rights of health professionals to deliver safe, effective treatments, the Court chose to defer to state legislatures, sidestepping decades of legal precedent and medical consensus.
In its 6-3 ruling in
U.S. v. Skrmetti, the Court asserted that it is not its role to “judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic” of Tennessee’s law, stating that “questions regarding the law’s policy are appropriately left to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process.” This decision effectively sanctions politically motivated attacks on trans youth under the guise of legislative discretion.
Every major medical association in the United States supports gender-affirming care as a critical component of health care for trans and non-binary youth. These treatments are based on the same medications and protocols used for a variety of pediatric conditions and are underpinned by evidence-based guidelines. Yet under this ruling, states can categorically deny transgender and non-binary youth access to this care simply because of who they are.
As Justice Sotomayor powerfully noted, the Court has “abandoned transgender children and their families to political whims.” She warned the ruling “invites legislatures to engage in discrimination by hiding blatant sex classifications in plain sight,” and “authorizes, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them.” This ruling does not reflect constitutional neutrality; it reflects a calculated disregard for trans lives and a dangerous erosion of equal protection under the law.
“Today’s decision is a devastating betrayal of transgender and non-binary youth and their families,” said Alex Sheldon, Executive Director of GLMA. “By allowing states to ban medically-necessary care, the Court has ignored decades of clinical evidence, the unanimous support of major medical associations, and its own duty to uphold equal protection under the law. But the fight is far from over—GLMA will continue to fiercely defend our members and all health professionals who reject fear and political extremism in their pursuit of ethical care. Trans lives are not up for debate, and neither is the right of providers to deliver evidence-based care without political interference.”
“Care doesn’t become less necessary just because the law does not understand it,” said Jona Tanguay, MS, PA-C, AAHIVS, CAQ-PSYCH, President of GLMA. “This ruling won’t stop young people from needing support, but it will make that support harder to find and far more dangerous to provide. It erodes trust between patients and providers, isolates families, and forces health decisions into courtrooms instead of clinics. Legislatures are not qualified to judge accepted evidence-based medical guidelines.”
GLMA stands with the families, providers, and young people whose care has been politicized. We will keep fighting to ensure that health decisions are made in clinics, not courtrooms.
About GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality
GLMA is a national organization committed to ensuring health equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities and equality for LGBTQ+ health professionals in their work and learning environments. To achieve this mission, GLMA utilizes the scientific expertise of its diverse multidisciplinary membership to inform and drive advocacy, education, and research.
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