A federal judge has permanently blocked the country’s first law banning gender-affirming care for minors, signaling a victory for LGBTQ advocates.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. on Tuesday says the state of Arkansas violated several sections of the U.S. Constitution when it banned all gender-affirming treatments for people under 18. The 80-page ruling says depriving trans minors of treatments like hormone therapy would cause them irreparable harm, and that delaying care until adulthood would force teens to go through changes inconsistent with their gender identity.
The verdict comes after an eight-day trial in December, where several of the state’s witnesses admitted they didn’t have experience treating transgender teens, and offered no evidence to dispute decades of scientific research.
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