US Supreme Court Allows State Bans on Transgender Procedures for Kids to Remain
Facts Matter
The Epoch Times
5 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 27 June 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
In 2023, the state legislature of Tennessee passed a law called SB 1, which explicitly banned minors who identified as transgender from receiving puberty blockers and hormone therapy. It was also later amended to ban “gender-affirming surgeries”.
The text of the bill prohibited health care providers from administering puberty blockers or hormones for the purpose of “enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex [or] treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity.”
This law applied to anyone in the state below the age of 18—even if that child had obtained their parents' consent.
However, the law did allow for some exceptions. Children who needed these treatments for medical reasons would still be allowed to have them. For instance, under the law as it was written, a child who experienced early onset puberty could still be given puberty blockers by their doctor. It’s just that these interventions could no longer be given to children simply because they identified as transgender.
Within days of passing, the law was challenged in court.
Civil rights groups sued the state, arguing that the law was a violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. On the flip side, the state of Tennessee argued that this wasn’t discrimination; rather, it was simply the regulation of medical care for minors—something well within the purview of the state.
The case eventually made its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court where, after hearing both sides of the argument, there was a 6–3 split decision in favor of Tennessee—and in favor of the other 25 states that have similar laws on their books.
Let’s go through the details of this ruling together.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Now for this next story, let's collectively take a break from discussing the Middle East in order to discuss something closer to home. |
| 0:07.3 | Back in 2023, the state legislature of Tennessee passed a law called SB1. |
| 0:13.3 | And this law, it explicitly banned transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy, |
| 0:19.2 | and then later the law was amended to also |
| 0:21.4 | ban quote-unquote gender-affirming surgeries. Or, to be very specific, the text of this |
| 0:27.2 | particular law, it prohibited healthcare professionals from administering puberty blockers and |
| 0:32.1 | or hormones for the purposes of, quote, enabling a minor to identify with or live as a purported identity |
| 0:39.5 | inconsistent with the minor sex or treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance |
| 0:45.7 | between the minor sex and asserted identity. This particular law, it applied to anyone in the |
| 0:51.0 | state of Tennessee who was below the age of 18, even if that minor got consent |
| 0:55.1 | from their parents. However, it's worth mentioning that this law, it also had some exceptions. |
| 0:59.8 | For instance, kids who needed those treatments for medical reasons would still be allowed to receive |
| 1:05.2 | them. And so, for instance, if you had a child who had an early onset of puberty, he or she would be allowed to get puberty |
| 1:12.4 | blockers and or hormones if they were prescribed by their doctor. It's only that these things |
| 1:17.1 | could no longer be given to children simply because that child claimed that he or she was |
| 1:22.9 | transgender. Now, obviously, this law was immediately challenged in court. |
| 1:27.9 | You had civil rights group sued the state arguing that this new law, it was for one a violation |
| 1:34.3 | of the 14th Amendment because these groups claimed it provided unequal protection under |
| 1:39.8 | the law. |
| 1:41.2 | And then secondly, they claimed that this law was a form of sex discrimination against |
| 1:45.9 | transgender minors. |
| 1:48.0 | Now, on the flip side, the state of Tennessee, they argued that this was not discrimination, |
... |
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