Transgender and Non-Binary Leaders Tell Federal Court Trans People Deserve Joy at Any Age
In 2021, Arkansas passed a law banning gender-affirming healthcare for trans young people. This discriminatory law would not only prohibit healthcare professionals from providing or referring trans young people under 18 for medically necessary health care, it would also allow private insurers to refuse to cover gender-affirming care for trans people of any age. If it is allowed to go into effect, the law will undermine the mental, emotional, and physical health of transgender and non-binary people across the state.
Though the ACLU has won a temporary pause on Arkansas’ health care ban, the fight continues in federal appeals court and in statehouses around the country, which is why trans stories are so important. While Arkansas is the first — and so far, only — state to pass such legislation, similar bills have been introduced in over 30 states around the country.
An amazing 58 transgender and non-binary adults including actor Elliot Page, activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracey, media personality Jazz Jennings, state senator Sarah McBride, and filmmaker Lilly Wachowski have stood up in defense of ACLU’s clients. They shared their stories in a “friend of the court” amicus brief filed by the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in support of plaintiffs in the ACLU's case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Brandt v. Rutledge.
Read their stories below about how gender-affirming care has changed their lives for the better, the hardships of gender dysphoria, and the joys of transitioning.
Trans young people know who they are.
North Carolina-raised film producer Rhys Ernst remembers: “One of my earliest conscious memories, in which I felt the most alive and like myself, was at age 3, when I realized quite clearly that I was a boy. I felt a strong jolt of purpose and belonging claiming that identity for myself.”
Jazz Jennings from Florida, now a 21-year-old student, started gender-affirming treatment when she began puberty and then went on to receive gender-affirming hormones. She told the court how having a typical female puberty helped her: “I developed alongside my peers as a female teenager. I was able to lead a happy childhood because I was able to live as the girl I knew I was.”
Noted transgender activist Major Griffin-Gracy, an Arkansas resident who is now over 70, first began receiving gender-affirming care in the form of hormones when she was 16 years old. While the discrimination she has faced as a transgender woman has made her life challenging, she reflects that receiving hormone treatment as a teen “made life easier than it would have been.”
Miss Major joined the trans youth who are suing the state of Arkansas for the district court hearing in this case (credit: Sydney Rasch/ACLU of Arkansas).
Gender-affirming care helps trans people thrive
Amici Dr. Gwendolyn Herzig of Alexander, Arkansas owns and operates an independent pharmacy. She shared with TLDEF how much coming into her identity empowered her to take a leadership role in the community:
“Living authentically has allowed me to better stand up and provide support for minority communities that need it the most. Especially, being the only trans female pharmacy owner in Arkansas, and maybe the South, in the face of a pandemic, I have been able to provide immunizations, resources, and guidance. Before, it was easier to hide away and to cope day by day. Now I try to take each day by storm and help everyone I can!”
Gender-affirming care cemented Beck Witt Major’s relationship with his father.
“A gender-affirming therapist helped our whole family come to terms with what was happening, and I think helped my dad the most,” he told TLDEF. “Before he passed, he loved and accepted me totally and would even send me cards saying things like Happy Birthday, Son.”
While his transition began in adulthood, Elliot Page agreed, sharing how his life completely changed once he was able to receive top surgery. “I couldn’t believe the amount of energy I had, ideas, how my imagination flourished, because the constant discomfort and pain around that aspect of my body was gone,” Page told the court.
Team USA athlete Chris Mosier recalled his first triathlon race after top surgery as a moment of gender euphoria: “The feeling of being able to run freely in a body that more closely matched the way I’ve always seen myself was overwhelming.”
Trans young people know what they need
Overall, the story told by this incredible array of transgender and non-binary supporters is that the treatment for gender dysphoria — gender affirmation — works.
Cecilia Gentili, a 49-year-old small business owner and transgender rights advocate, first received self-managed gender-affirming care at age 17, which she said was “great” and “changed her life,” but would have been even more beneficial if she had been able to obtain it through a doctor, rather than on her own. Gentili told the court:
“Transgender youth know who they are, and they know what they need. Our job is to listen to them.”
is committed to ending discrimination based upon gender identity and expression and to achieving equality for transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal services, and public policy efforts.
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
President Biden Must Veto Defense Bill Attacking Military Families with Transgender YouthPresident Biden Must Veto Defense Bill Attacking Military Families with Transgender Youth
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate today passed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act that would ban coverage for gender-affirming care for transgender youth whose parents are active-duty military personnel. The American Civil Liberties Union is opposing final passage of the defense bill over the inclusion of this health care ban and calling on President Joe Biden to veto the bill. Section 708 of the NDAA would prohibit insurance coverage for “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria” such as hormone therapy and puberty-suppressant medications, which Speaker Mike Johnson says would “permanently ban transgender medical treatment for minors.” The same treatments would be covered by TRICARE for any medical purpose other than treating gender dysphoria, the clinical diagnosis for the psychological distress experienced by transgender people related to their gender identity. “By passing this bill, the House and Senate are forcing thousands of active-duty service members to choose between their careers in the military and the future of their transgender children,” said Mike Zamore, national director of policy & government affairs at the ACLU. “This unconscionable and unjustifiable attack on those families stands in direct contrast to President Joe Biden’s legacy of defending the civil rights of transgender Americans — including when few in his own party showed the courage to do so. President Biden should cement his legacy by vetoing this bill and sending it back to Congress to pass without Speaker Johnson’s last minute health care ban for servicemembers’ kids.” If signed by President Biden, this health care ban would be the first new anti-LGBTQ provision enacted by Congress and signed into law by the president since the enactment of the military’s since-repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for LGBTQ servicemembers and the since-repealed federal law barring recognition of same-sex marriages known as the Defense of Marriage Act. It is unknown how many transgender youth are currently enrolled in TRICARE or how many of those enrolled are currently receiving coverage for gender-affirming care. In one 2022 analysis, 2,500 minor patients sought care for gender dysphoria through TRICARE Prime insurance at military or civilian treatment facilities in 2017, and 900 received puberty suppressants or gender-affirming hormones. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a landmark case brought by the ACLU, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and Akin Gump on behalf of three families and a medical provider challenging a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming hormonal therapies for transgender youth on the grounds the ban violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
Montana Court Blocks State From Refusing to Correct Sex Markers on Transgender People's Birth Certificates and Driver's LicensesMontana Court Blocks State From Refusing to Correct Sex Markers on Transgender People's Birth Certificates and Driver's Licenses
HELENA, Mont. – A Montana court has granted a preliminary injunction preventing the state of Montana from enforcing policies that bar transgender people from obtaining accurate sex designations on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses. After a prior restriction on amendments of birth certificates was struck down by the courts, in early 2024 the state of Montana enacted a new rule that categorically bars transgender Montanans from correcting the sex designation on their birth certificates. Around the same time, the Montana Department of Justice adopted a policy similarly restricting amendment of driver’s licenses. The plaintiffs challenged these policies in state district court, arguing that they violate various constitutional provisions, including the right to equal protection of the law. In a recent Montana Supreme Court decision, two justices concluded that discrimination on the basis of transgender status – as the state is engaging in here – is a form of sex discrimination that violates the Montana Constitution’s equal protection clause. The plaintiffs, two transgender women, are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Montana, and Nixon Peabody LLP. Plaintiff Jessica Kalarchik, a veteran who served in the United States Army for 31 years, said: “After finally being able to live my life openly as the woman I know myself to be, I am frustrated that my birth state, Montana, wants me to carry around a birth certificate that incorrectly lists my sex as male. I live my life openly as a woman, I am treated as a woman in my daily life, and there is no reason I should be forced to carry a birth certificate that incorrectly identifies me as male. Fortunately, the court agrees that this ridiculous policy should not be in effect.” “Once again the State of Montana chose to adopt a draconian policy that is clearly intended to marginalize transgender Montanans, only for that discriminatory action to be blocked by the courts,” said Akilah Deernose, executive director for the ACLU of Montana. “Here in Montana we treasure our right to privacy and to live our lives free from governmental intrusion. The State of Montana clearly has not learned any lessons from the past few years, where courts have repeatedly struck down unconstitutional laws targeting transgender Montanans.” “Forcing anyone to carry documents that contradict their identity unjustly violates their rights to privacy, equal treatment, and not being compelled to convey a government message about their sex that they disagree with,” said Malita Picasso, staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “Such a policy marks transgender people for further mistreatment and discrimination, essentially requiring them to carry papers that out them as transgender any time they need to provide identity documents. Fortunately, the court has refused to allow the state of Montana to subvert the freedom of transgender Montanans to control their own identity as this case goes forward.” In granting the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, the court held, “[i]f the challenged state actions discriminate against transgender individuals on the basis of their transgender status, they also necessarily discriminate the basis of sex.” The state has the option of appealing the district court’s ruling to the Montana Supreme Court, but the underlying case will proceed in district court. A trial has not yet been scheduled. -
FloridaDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
Keohane v. DixonKeohane v. Dixon
On September 30, 2024, the Florida Department of Corrections rescinded its policy regarding treatment of gender dysphoria, which allowed for hormone therapy when deemed medically necessary, as well as access to clothing and grooming standards that accord with one’s gender identity. Under this new policy, grooming and clothing accommodations have been stripped away, and hormone therapy is not permitted unless an exception is deemed constitutionally required. The ACLU brought a class action challenging the policy. -
IdahoDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
Robinson v. LabradorRobinson v. Labrador
Two incarcerated transgender women have sued the state of Idaho alleging that HB 688, a 2024 law barring state funding for gender-affirming medical care for transgender people, denies them access to the health care their doctors have prescribed for them and is a violation of their Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. They represent a class of all incarcerated folks within the state of Idaho who face the loss of hormone therapy due to HB 668.