This week, five transgender youth in Louisiana filed a petition asking a judge to block the state’s ban on gender-affirming medical care.
The lawsuit alleges that Act 466, which took effect at the beginning of the year, jeopardizes access to medical treatment and is unconstitutional.
“The lawsuit makes [it] clear for the court that the care itself is safe and effective, and that the law, as it's written in trying to prohibit that safe and effective care, is actually violating the Louisiana Constitution by targeting transgender youth in particular,” said Nicholas Hite, a senior attorney with Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization that filed the suit along with the Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School, and Louisiana law firm Schonekas, Evans, McGoey & McEachin.
“The law makes clear that this type of care is available to any other young person in Louisiana that it may be appropriate for, but that it is specifically prohibited only for transgender youth,” Hite said. “Which is a violation of the equal protection rights under the Louisiana Constitution.”
Louisiana’s ban was part of a wave of legislation in the Gulf South that targeted young trans people in particular. Many of those laws are now being challenged.
In Alabama, a similar lawsuit is moving forward in state courts over that state’s 2022 ban on gender-affirming care, which makes it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison for doctors to treat people younger than 19 with puberty blockers or hormones.
Although not every trans person chooses to medically transition or has access to care, gender-affirming health care for trans youth and adults is considered safe and medically necessary by every major medical organization.
Hite said efforts to target marginalized communities are nothing new in the Gulf South, but there’s also a long history of people standing up and pushing back against these efforts.
“I think, if anything, this lawsuit, along with the suits across the Gulf South, send that message that we're not going to let trans kids in our communities be used as some sort of scapegoat,” Hite said. “We're not going to be pushed around.”
For Hite, just the act of filing the suit, even if it is ultimately unsuccessful, sends a message to young trans people that they are not alone and are “deserving of care that affirms them and makes them feel safe within their own bodies.”
He said the five plaintiffs represent a “wide swath” of Louisiana, both inside and outside New Orleans, both male and female.
“The thing that our plaintiffs really have in common is an experience of knowing that they were experiencing a lot of distress prior to starting care,” Hite said.
Advocates and mental health experts have warned that anti-trans bills and rhetoric are already causing real harm to young trans people. A report from the Trevor Project found that about 40% of young LGBTQ people in the U.S. say they’ve seriously considered suicide, and in the South, the number is even higher.
“They’re reducing their mental health and increasing rates of suicidality and depression,” said Peyton Michelle, executive director of Louisiana Trans Advocates. “These are young people who have already felt targeted and under attack.”
Michelle said anti-trans legislation also hurts the families of young trans people.
“It’s not easy on the parents,” she said. “No parent wants to see their child go through something like this. Every parent wants to see their child thrive and be happy, live a joyful life.”
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.
