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The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that the state of Idaho could go ahead and enforce its ban on gender-altering medical procedures for minors that would cause permanent damage, at least for now.
The court’s six conservatives overruled its three far-left liberals, with CBS News reporting that “the stay does not apply to the two transgender teenage plaintiffs in the case and the care they are seeking, but blocks the more expansive portions of the lower court’s decision.”
“The district court’s order promised to run for the life of this lawsuit, thus preventing Idaho from executing any aspect of its law for years. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs face no harm from the partial stay the State requests,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority in an opinion joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The ACLU, which is representing the plaintiffs, criticized the ruling.
“While the court’s ruling today importantly does not touch upon the constitutionality of this law, it is nonetheless an awful result for transgender youth and their families across the state,” the groups said. “Today’s ruling allows the state to shut down the care that thousands of families rely on while sowing further confusion and disruption. Nonetheless, today’s result only leaves us all the more determined to defeat this law in the courts entirely, making Idaho a safer state to raise every family.”
Critics have denounced so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors as horrendous and abusive, saying that permanently disfiguring a child’s body for a political cause is cruel and inhumane. Many of the same critics have urged states to pass laws preventing minors from undergoing such procedures, pushing off such decisions until they reach adulthood.
CBS News added:
The legal battle involves Idaho’s Vulnerable Child Protection Act, or H.B. 71, which was signed into law by GOP Gov. Brad Little last year. The measure bars health care providers in the state from providing certain medications or surgeries “for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.” Among the restricted treatments are puberty blocking-drugs, hormone therapy and surgeries. Violators of the law may face up to 10 years in prison and fines.
Idaho officials, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, sought the emergency injunction from the U.S. Supreme Court after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to do so.
“Plaintiffs only seek estrogen hormone therapies, yet the district court issued a universal injunction against the law in its entirety, stopping enforcement even in situations where Plaintiffs’ experts agree medical intervention is not appropriate,” Idaho officials wrote. “Those applications involve the most extreme surgical treatments and the most vulnerable minors, who will lose the protections of Idaho’s law and will instead be governed by an injunction obtained by others who do not and cannot speak for them.”
CBS News noted that more than 20 states have laws similar to that of Idaho, though courts have blocked their enforcement in some cases.
One advocate against mutilating child surgeries in the name of ‘gender dysphoria’ is SiriusXM podcaster Megyn Kelly.
During a recent episode, she shared some heartfelt apologies with her audience while also commending Caitlyn Jenner for speaking out about preventing trans athletes from competing in sports competitions with those of the opposite biological sex.
Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, a champion Olympic swimmer and outspoken conservative who transitioned in 2015, has railed against biological men competing in all-female sporting events, stating they should only be allowed to compete against other men.
“Caitlyn Jenner is out there every day tweeting about this kind of thing. Caitlin understands how unfair this is,” the journalist alleged in a segment during her Thursday podcast of “The Megyn Kelly Show.” “It’s not about trans people.”
“I think most trans people probably agree with us,” Kelly claimed, per OK! magazine. “It’s just the few who try to take advantage of sport, and it’s always a male-to-female trans person. It’s never the other way around. Why? Because we’re the ones who can be taken advantage of.”
