The United States Supreme Court has ruled that Idaho can enforce its ban on sex changes for minors while an appeal is pending. The court’s directive was issued in response to an emergency request from the Gem State.
Two teenage plaintiffs have challenged the law. The Supreme Court ruled they, specifically, are to be exempt from its implementation while their appeals are ongoing, but it can be enforced across the state more generally.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), representing the plaintiffs, described the ruling as an “awful result for transgender youth and their families across the state,” claiming it “allows the state to shut down the care that thousands of families rely on while sowing further confusion and disruption.”
The Idaho law outlaws mutilating surgeries and the administration of puberty blockers, hormones, and other medical therapies to minors.
The evidence such therapies are an effective treatment for “gender dysphoria” is extremely thin, however, with England among several jurisdictions that have now banned the routing prescription of puberty blockers to children.
Evidence is emerging that such treatments have dangerous and often irreversible side effects, however, and that most gender-confused children grow out of their delusions naturally.
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