FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 20, 2025
WASHINGTON, DC – On June 18, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti, upholding Tennessee’s discriminatory ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. This ruling has, in the words of dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor, “authorized, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them.” The decision follows the Trump Administration’s June 17th announcement that it will be ending specialized suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ youth on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline effective July 17, 2025. It is one of many recent attacks against the LGBTQ+ community.
The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) denounces the Skrmetti decision, and remains committed to safeguarding and upholding healthcare rights and freedoms for all individuals, including our transgender youth. “We support the right of trans youth and adults to access medical care free from discrimination,” said Michelle Uzeta, DREDF’s Interim Executive Director. “Trans rights are disability rights, and there is no disability justice without trans justice. We will use all the tools at our disposal to fight with our trans peers to ensure that trans youth, their families, and their healthcare providers can exercise the right to make deeply personal and critical health decisions that allow them to be proud and free.”
In deciding Skrmetti, the majority of the Supreme Court ignored the testimony and lived experiences of transgender youth and the medical community’s firm support for gender-affirming care as a well-established, safe, and medically necessary treatment. Rather, it relied on misinformation and undermined the right of trans people to make decisions about their own bodies with the support of their doctors and families. The decision directly impacts transgender youth in the 25 U.S. states that currently have a ban on the use of puberty blockers and other forms of gender-affirming medical care. Importantly, it does not impact states where gender-affirming health care for transgender youth is not currently banned or where the bans have been halted by court orders based on grounds not considered by the Supreme Court in Skrmetti (Montana and Arkansas). Trans youth will still be able to receive care in those states.
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DREDF wrote an amicus brief in support of the rights of trans youth in Skrmetti, and has previously written on how ableist stereotypes about the decision-making capacity of disabled people are used to justify bans on gender-affirming medications.
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Media Contact
Tina Pinedo
DREDF Communications Director
(510) 225-7726
media@dredf.org
About Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), based in Berkeley, California, is a national nonprofit law and policy center dedicated to advancing and protecting the civil and human rights of people with disabilities. Founded in 1979 by people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, DREDF remains board- and staff-led by members of the communities for whom we advocate. DREDF pursues its mission through education, advocacy, and law reform efforts, and is committed to increasing accessible and equally effective healthcare for people with disabilities. DREDF supports legal protections for all diversity and minority communities, including the intersectional interests of people within those communities who also have disabilities.