Transgender Texans react to SCOTUS ruling on care ban for minors
The video at the top of this story is from Jan. 7, 2025.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Wednesday ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning doctors from prescribing transition-related medicines to minors. Transgender people living in Austin told KXAN their thoughts about the ruling.
The 6-3 ruling, along party lines, likely also applies to Texas' 2023 ban and to similar laws in 26 other states.
The court did not consider whether transgender people should be afforded legal protections provided to other minority populations. According to the opinion of the court, the state law under scrutiny did not raise that question; Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that it only restricted based on patient age and medical treatment, and not transgender status.
What transgender Austinites say
The Associated Press spoke with Texas Legislative staffer Mo Jenkins, a 26-year-old trans woman who started hormone therapy at 16. She told the AP that she was disheartened but not surprised by the ruling.
“My transition was out of survival,” said Jenkins to the AP. “Trans people are not going to disappear."
One trans woman living in Austin told KXAN that she's angry about the ruling from "a handful of hateful people."
"I'm honestly f---ing angry on behalf of every single trans child who'll suffer because a handful of hateful people see us as a threat," she said. "We will not stop existing because of this ruling, all it does is further enable the dehumanization of a minority community that just wants the same freedom of self that everyone else has."
Reverend Remington Johnson said that this decision came about after decades of SCOTUS becoming more radical.
"What this ruling says is 'we, the government, know better than your doctor, your parent, and decades of medical research,'" Johnson said. "That's not health care, that's sectarian violence, that's authoritarian control."
She added that the decision will have repercussions beyond transgender children.
"This isn't just about trans kids and all the harm that will come to them from from this decision," she said. "It's this broader effort to strip care from all of us, first the children, then the adults, all while claiming to defend freedom and personal choice. This is bad and it causes very real harm, which we will live for, live with for a very long time."
Non-binary author KB Brookins said the decision was disappointing and upsetting.
"As an educator, I know that this is going to trickle down into the morale of trans youth in classrooms. I'm disappointed that instead of actually focusing on real issue ... [the government is] wasting time bullying what is 1% of people in the U.S.," they said. "This sends a message that the U.S. is not a place where all Americans will be treated fairly and not mistreated based on their identity."
Texas groups react
Felicia Martin, executive director for local progressive activist group Texas Freedom Network, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon. She said that the "ruling will put the lives of our children at risk."
“Sadly, we are not strangers to state-sponsored attacks against transgender youth and adults in Texas, and the Court’s decision to codify cruelty is devastating for our communities," she said. "Health care for transgender youth and adults is lifesaving, which is why every major medical and mental health organization in the United States supports best-practice gender-affirming care.
She also said that TFN will continue to its fight.
"No law can erase the powerful presence of transgender Texans, including children, who deserve to live and thrive as their full selves. Our fight for our community will rage on until everyone is safe and embraced in Texas and beyond," she said.
Equality Texas interim CEO Brad Pritchett called into the KXAN studio to talk about the ruling.
KXAN also reached out the the city of Austin, which approved a transgender protection resolution in 2024, for comment. We will update this if one is received.