FREE OF CHARGE: Protesters Flock to Supreme Court to Oppose Ban on ‘Gender-Affirming Care’
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell /
Organizations in favor of child sex changes will protest the Supreme Court as the nine justices hear oral arguments Wednesday in a case that will decide whether states may ban irreversible transgender medical interventions for children.
LGBTQ+ activists with the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, Human Rights Campaign, Gender Liberation Movement, Young Feminist Party, and other groups are busing in protesters for a “Free to Be Ourselves Rally” Wednesday morning outside the Supreme Court Building during the arguments in United States v. Skrmetti.
The high court eventually will rule on the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that protects children from gender-transition procedures. The defendant in the case is Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed the bill banning puberty blockers, hormone replacement regimens, and transgender surgeries for children into law on March 22, 2023.
In April 2023, the ACLU sued the state of Tennessee on behalf of Samantha and Brian Williams, whose 15-year-old son says he identifies as a transgender girl.
The Biden-Harris administration joined the lawsuit, contending that Tennessee’s law is unconstitutional.
After a federal District Court blocked the law from taking effect, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit reversed that and allowed the law to go into effect, finding that Tennessee was likely to succeed in arguing that the law is constitutional.
The Supreme Court agreed to review the 6th Circuit’s decision after Biden’s Justice Department and the ACLU appealed the case.
The first transgender-identifying person to argue before the Supreme Court will represent the ACLU in its argument Wednesday. Chase Strangio is a biological woman who says she identifies as a transgender man.
Protesters bused in from across the country free of charge will tell the nine Supreme Court justices that “they cannot legislate our existence away or judge our bodies or our genders,” one participating organization, Gender Liberation Movement, posted on Instagram.
Gender Liberation Movement, which describes itself as a grassroots organization created to “defy or transcend the gendered expectations that harm and limit us,” also is co-hosting a Drag Queen Story Hour for children in New York City on Dec. 10.
Another protest sponsor, the Human Rights Campaign, which bills itself as the largest LGBTQ+ rights organization, supports irreversible transgender medical interventions for children and peddles the lie that children are less likely to commit suicide if they “transition.”
“We can’t stand by as the Supreme Court considers stripping LGBTQ+ people of our hard-earned rights,” HRC wrote on the event page for the rally. “We’re going to send a message that gender-affirming care is medically necessary, lifesaving and here to stay!”
None of the organizations involved in the rally responded to The Daily Signal’s requests for comment.
Those in favor of protecting children from such medical interventions will hold their own rally Wednesday in support of Tennessee’s law. Medical watchdog Do No Harm plans to host doctors, detransitioners, and allies outside the Supreme Court at 8 a.m.
“We are focused on the broad coalition of supporters we will have at our rally in support of Attorney General Skrmetti and all those working to protect children in this pivotal case,” Do No Harm External Relations Manager Beth Serio told The Daily Signal. “More than 20 organizations who share Do No Harm’s commitment to protecting children from the child sex-change cult will come together in alignment with the vast majority of Americans who agree that performing experimental medical treatment on children is wrong.”
Proponents of “gender-affirming care” often argue that children aren’t transitioned. But 225 hospitals and health care facilities provide irreversible transgender procedures to children. Nearly 14,000 American children underwent sex-change interventions of some type between 2019 and 2023, according to Do No Harm’s database.
Tennessee is one of 26 states to pass laws protecting kids from transgender medical interventions. The Supreme Court’s ruling in this case is expected to affect every law prohibiting gender transitions for children across the country.
“The people of Tennessee, through their elected representatives, took measured action with Senate Bill 1 to protect kids from irreversible, unproven medical procedures,” Skrmetti said in an October statement. “Lawmakers recognized that there is little to no credible evidence to justify the serious risks these procedures present to youth and joined a growing number of European countries in restricting their use on minors with gender-identity issues.”
Almost three-fourths of voters say it should be illegal to subject children to transgender medical interventions, according to a recent poll from Napolitan News Service.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to ban such medical procedures for children without parental consent. In a 2023 video, Trump promised to “pass a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states.”
“In the end, we’re confident truth, common sense, and science will prevail and the Tennessee law will be upheld,” Serio said.