Troons take another L.
(CN) — A split three-judge panel in the Seventh Circuit Wednesday greenlit Indiana's ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
The measure prohibits youth hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgery. Indiana's Republican Governor Eric Holcomb
signed it into law in April 2023, but before it could take effect that July, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon, a Donald Trump appointee, issued a preliminary injunction against most of its components.
Hanlon, ruling in a suit brought by a class of transgender youth represented by attorneys from the Indiana ACLU, suspended the moratorium on most gender-affirming medical procedures, though he allowed the ban on gender reassignment surgery to stand. He also blocked a provision of the law which would allow the state to prosecute medical practitioners who help trans youth access those procedures elsewhere.
The decision prompted an appeal to the Seventh Circuit, which
heard arguments in February. Eleven days later, in a precursor to Wednesday's ruling, the appeals court
lifted Hanlon’s injunction.
In its final
ruling, the Seventh Circuit panel said that the lower court erred in finding that plaintiffs affected by the ban faced irreparable harm.
“While it was correct to recognize the record evidence supporting the effectiveness of medical interventions to treat gender dysphoria, the court failed to even discuss other record evidence establishing that psychotherapy and psychosocial support are also effective treatment options,” U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, a Trump appointee, wrote for the majority
. “It might be different if Indiana barred all treatment for gender dysphoria, but SEA 480 does no such thing.”
The panel majority also ruled against plaintiffs’ claims that their due process and equal protection rights are infringed by the ban.
“It bars gender transition procedures regardless of whether the patient is a boy or a girl: Nobody may receive the treatment the state has chosen to regulate,” Brennan wrote. “So, sex does not indicate on what basis treatment is prohibited. The law does not create a class of one sex and a class of another and deny treatment to just one of those classes.”
U.S. Circuit Judge Kenneth Ripple, a Ronald Reagan appointee, joined Brennan in the majority decision.
Split 7th Circuit OKs Indiana law banning youth transgender treatment