Trans youth sue over Louisiana’s ban on gender-affirming health care

Five trans youth and their families filed a petition in Louisiana District Court on Monday over the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors, alleging such an action “has endangered the health and wellbeing” of the plaintiffs.

The law — formerly HB 648, now Act 466 — bans gender-affirming care for trans people in the state under the age of 18, and punishes doctors who provide such care, which includes access to hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery. The Act took effect last week on New Year’s Day following the state legislature’s overriding of a veto by the former Governor of Louisiana last summer — a Democrat.

The suit alleges that the ban strips parents of their right to champion their children’s health choices and violates the Louisiana State Constitution by a minor’s right to medical treatment and discriminates against them based on sex and transgender status. 

“This Health Care Ban only stands to harm Louisiana’s trans youth and their families,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Counsel and Health Care Strategist for Lambda Legal, in a statement. “Denying medical care to youth just because they are transgender is both unlawful and inhumane – especially when the same treatments remain available to all other minors.”

Trans minors in Louisiana “are faced with the loss of access to safe, effective, and necessary medical care they need to treat their gender dysphoria—a serious medical condition,” said the lawsuit, which accuses the state of having “singled out transgender minors for discrimination by enacting a categorical prohibition on medical treatments for transgender adolescents.”

“Being able to access gender-affirming hormones and be my true self has been a lifesaver,” said one of the plaintiffs, Max Moe. “I am terrified of what the Health Care Ban will do and worry about how my mental health might deteriorate.” 

The plaintiffs are being represented by Lambda Legal and Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, as well as a Louisiana law firm in their case.

“Trans youth deserve to access health care on the same footing as everyone else,” said Suzanne Davies, Senior Clinical Fellow at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School and one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in their suit.

“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,” Davies said.

A study published last July by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that more than 40% of trans adults in the U.S. have attempted suicide — four times more likely than their cisgender counterparts.

The numbers are even worse for trans youth, with 56% having attempted suicide, according to a 2020 study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 

Both the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have spoken out against what the AMA calls “governmental intrusion into the practice of medicine that is detrimental to the health of transgender and gender-diverse children and adults,” continually reaffirming their commitment to supporting trans youth in their searches for gender-affirming care.

“Louisiana has prohibited this medical care only for minors who are transgender, despite it being evidence-based, safe, and effective, and being supported by all major medical organizations,” said Gonzalez-Pagan.

“The Health Care Ban represents broad government overreach into the relationship between parents, their children, and their health care providers.”

C Mandler

C Mandler is a social media producer and trending topics writer for CBS News, focusing on American politics and LGBTQ+ issues.