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On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for children — a ruling that is expected to shield similar laws in at least 20 other states.
For a look at how the ruling might impact Minnesotans, MPR News host Lisa Ryan spoke with Brittany Stewart, senior staff attorney for Gender Justice, a nonprofit in St. Paul.
Press play above to listen to their conversation, or read a transcript below, edited for time and clarity.
What was your reaction to hearing the news Wednesday morning?
I certainly expected this decision based on how we heard the oral arguments go a few months ago. But it’s a devastating decision for bodily autonomy and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution.
But I also want to be clear to Minnesotans that this just says that it leaves it up to the states. And so this is not the Supreme Court saying there's a federal ban. This is just allowing the Tennessee ban to go forward. And folks in Minnesota should know the law here protects access to this care by trans youth in Minnesota. So we have laws to protect Minnesotans already.
Minnesota passed a law two years ago making the state a legal refuge for transgender people. So are you expecting to see any impacts here?
I mean, there's always impacts that can happen. You know, even with some of the executive orders that came down back in January through March, we've heard of providers not sure what they need to do. So we have to try to do everything we can to make sure providers and patients in Minnesota know that right, and know that this care is protected in Minnesota, regardless of what's happening at the Supreme Court.
What are you hearing from people who this would effect and what are you telling them?
Yeah, so we also represent folks in North Dakota, where North Dakota did pass one of these kinds of care bans. Those clients that have been very harmed by that ban, they've had to travel, some of them, six hours one way, just to go to doctor’s appointments in Minnesota because their child, needs access to this care. So it's causing real harm.
One of our doctor plaintiffs in North Dakota testified that he knows of a patient who was denied care in North Dakota who attempted to take their own life and ended up in the hospital for several months. So there are real people involved and real harms being done by these care bans at the state level.
As you mentioned, a lot of the surrounding states around Minnesota have passed similar bans, like the Dakotas and Iowa. MPR News has reported on the estimated hundreds of people who have fled bans in other states, moved to Minnesota, and some providers like Children's Minnesota reported a 30 percent increase in calls to its Gender Health Program as these bans began popping up. Do you anticipate that number will grow with this news?
I do anticipate that will grow, because this decision will impact other litigation and other federal circuits where some of these care bans have been put on hold, so at least as it as it applies to those states where people might have had an injunction that was allowing them to get care. In the meantime, you know those injunctions are going to go away, and so there will be more people in more states that are looking for refuge somewhere else.
Do you have concerns about the mental health of people who this will affect as well, especially as the Trump Administration announced it would end support for the LGBTQ+ National Suicide Hotline?
Absolutely, that’s truly one of the biggest impacts here is the is the mental health. All of the medical associations in the United States support gender affirming care for youth who actually need it, because it does reduce those mental health issues. It reduces the likelihood of self-harm, of suicide, of depression, of anxiety and when folks cannot get the medication they need to treat the symptoms that they're facing, then it does make it much harder for them to be happy, and it increases their mental health issues, and it’s a very big concern. And, you know, taking away a resource like 988, in the midst of this, you know, it really goes to that sometimes the cruelty is the point.
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