Five trans youth and their families are suing the state of Louisiana to block the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, which went into effect on January 1.
House Bill 648 was vetoed last July by former Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, but that veto was overturned by the Republican-dominated legislature. According to PBS, it marked only the third time a veto session has been held since 1974. The bill was enacted into law as Act 466 and set to go into effect at the beginning of 2024.
Like other bans on gender-affirming care, Act 466 would punish practitioners who provide care to minors by revoking their license or certification for at least two years. It would also allow patients who feel as though they were harmed by receiving care as a minor to pursue legal action against providers. The Act would also force all trans youth to cease taking hormones or blockers by December 31, 2024.
The newly filed lawsuit claims that Act 466 is unconstitutional under the Louisiana state constitution and that it violates trans youth and their families’ rights to equal protection under the law, according to a press release from Lambda Legal. In a statement from the press release, the pseudonymous plaintiff Max Moe called the ban “so upsetting.”
“Growing up, I was intensely self-conscious of my body, which led to a near-constant state of discomfort,” Moe said, adding that he was often “anxious and even found it hard to talk.” For Moe, access to gender-affirming hormones was a “lifesaver.”
“I am now far more comfortable and confident and feel less distress,” he said in the statement. “This health care has allowed me to be happy, healthy, and my true authentic self – the boy I know I am. I am terrified of what the Health Care Ban will do and worry about how my mental health might deteriorate.”
The plaintiffs, trans youth who range in age from 9 to 16 years old, are seeking a declaratory judgment that Act 466 violates the Louisiana constitution, specifically the rights to medical autonomy, parental autonomy, and equal protection under the law. They are also seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions against the Act, which would prevent it from being enforced.
“Trans youth deserve to access health care on the same footing as everyone else,” read a statement from Suzanne Davies, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs and a senior clinical Fellow at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School.
“This new, harmful policy attacks Louisiana youth who suffer from gender dysphoria and whose doctors have determined they require access to gender-affirming care,” Davies said. “By selectively banning such treatments for trans youth, this law deprives Louisiana adolescents of equal access to medically necessary, and often life-saving care that is effective in treating gender dysphoria and addressing other serious health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and even suicidal ideation that can occur when gender dysphoria is left untreated.”
According to the legislative tracking organization Movement Advancement Project, 21 states have banned gender-affirming care for trans youth. However, a number of those bans are unenforceable, either temporarily or permanently, due to lawsuits like the Louisiana complaint.
This story originally appeared in Them.
