Transgender youth in Kentucky have few options to access gender-affirming care, advocates say, after a federal appeals court allowed the state to continue to enforce its ban on care for minors before it comes to a final decision.
On Monday, in a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati maintained that Kentucky can still enforce its ban. This is the second time the 6th Circuit has ruled in favor of barring transgender youth from accessing medically necessary care after the same judges allowed from organizations like the Campaign for Southern Equality.
“Families are having to make awful decisions about whether or not to stay in their homes, where they cannot access this care, or leave permanently and uproot their family and move to another state or seek out the costly and time-consuming process of receiving gender-affirming care from another state,” Hartman said. “None of these are good options.”
Advertisement
At least 20 states have restricted or banned gender-affirming care for transgender minors this year, though most states are facing litigation. In June, a federal judge ruled that Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care was unconstitutional.
Currently, 1 in 3 trans children lives in a state where there is a ban on gender-affirming care, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit that tracks LGBTQ+ state policies.
