Montana District Court Activist Judge Strikes Down Law Banning Sex Changes for Minors

A district court judge has once again blocked a Montana law banning sex change surgeries and hormone treatments for minors.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation, Senate Bill 99, into law in 2023.

The law prohibits doctors from prescribing cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, or performing sex change surgeries on minors. Healthcare workers who violate the law could be subjected to discipline from their “licensing entity or disciplinary review board” and lose their license for a year if convicted.

A lawsuit challenging the ban was brought on by the American Civil Liberties Union which is representing Jessica and Ewout van Garderen and their 16-year-old son who identifies as a girl named “Scarlet,” Molly and Paul Cross and their 15-year-old daughter “Phoebe,” Jane and John Doe joining on behalf of their 15-year-old son who identifies as a girl, Dr. Juanita Hodax of Community Medical Center, and Dr. Katy Mistretta of Bozeman Creek Family Health.

Just four days before the new law was scheduled to go into effect, District Court Judge Jason Marks issued a temporary injunction because he agreed with the plaintiffs who argued that it is “likely unconstitutional and would harm the mental and physical health of minors with gender dysphoria, rather than protect them from experimental treatments.”

On Tuesday, Judge Marks issued a 59-page ruling in which he claimed the law violates the state constitutional protections for privacy, equal protection, and free speech.

“The court is forced to conclude that the state’s interest is actually a political and ideological one: ensuring minors in Montana are never provided treatment to address their ‘perception that [their] gender or sex’ is something other than their sex assigned at birth,” Marks’ ruling states. “In other words, the state’s interest is actually blocking transgender expression.”

Chase Scheuer, press secretary to Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, said in a statement to The Hill, “Yet again, the Montana judiciary ignored the will of Montanans and went out of its way to advance the woke agendas of their political allies before the state could get a fair trial.”

The report noted, “The decision to strike down Montana’s law comes as the Supreme Court prepares to rule this summer on whether such restrictions are constitutional. Half the nation since 2021 has adopted laws that ban gender transition-related care for minors, and President Trump has sought to end federal support for gender-affirming care for youth through an executive order that two court orders currently block.”

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