State Legislators, Attorney General Celebrate SCOTUS Ruling

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, state House Majority Leader William Lamberth called for the federal government to institute a national ban on such treatments. 

But that was in contradiction with what Tennessee’s Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson said during the same press conference. During the June 18 conference, the Republican state leaders celebrated what they considered a victory for states’ rights.

“I’m so grateful to the Supreme Court, grateful for General Skrmetti and his team for defending this legislation, because yes, I very much, very passionately believe in the policy that we passed,” said Johnson. “But equally, I’m excited about the impacts and the affirmation of our state’s rights as a sovereign state to be able to make these decisions.” 

Co-sponsors Johnson and Lamberth introduced the ban as the first bill of 2023’s legislative session. Johnson said during last week’s press conference that when they brought the bill, they anticipated legal challenges.

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He also thanked conservative media outlet the Daily Wire and right-wing media personality Matt Walsh for helping “get the ball rolling” when he took aim via social media at the Pediatric Transgender Clinic at Nashville’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Walsh, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and a number of other right-wing heavyweights took the stage at a Nashville rally advocating for the ban in October 2022.

The law puts doctors at risk of losing their licenses for providing surgeries, puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy for minors. It also provides a path for parents to sue if care happens without their consent, and for people who receive gender-affirming care as minors to sue their medical providers as adults. Even if the family involved is satisfied with their child’s care, the attorney general can sue. 

Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Pediatric Transgender Clinic had confirmed that an average of five patients per year, all 16 or older, received surgeries, and none received genital surgeries. VUMC put a pause on surgeries in October 2022, and ahead of the law going into effect in July 2023, the clinic stopped providing care in June 2023. 

Lamberth referred to the “cutting off of body parts” 12 times during the 25-minute press conference. But he said when people reach 18, they should be able to partake in any care they wish. 

“If some adult wants to cut off their body parts, alter their body in whatever way they want to — they’re adults, fine,” Lamberth said. “Do whatever you want to do. It’s a free country, but leave the kids out of it.”

Skrmetti took a more measured approach.  

“This is a heavy burden for families to carry,” Skrmetti said. “Nobody should make light of that. Nobody should make fun of that. It is a hard thing.” 

At least in Tennessee, the Republican stance has been to give parents the choice, rather than institute state requirements, when it comes to vaccination and, as of this year, education. However, the same autonomy was not extended to parents who were required to give consent over their transgender child’s treatment. 

“We have to take children out of abusive homes,” Johnson said. “We have to protect children in myriad different ways. There are other places in our statute where we have prohibited medical practices to protect Tennesseans, and in this particular case, to protect children. We felt like this particular issue rose to that level where the state has a compelling interest to intervene and to protect the child from the life of irreparable harm to their body.” 

Legislation to allow for abortion in children under 13 was shot down in 2024. 

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Eli Givens, the Williamson County organizer for the Tennessee Equality Project, considers themselves among the “lucky ones” who were able to get gender-affirming care in Tennessee as a teen. After camping out overnight, Givens watched the proceedings from the Supreme Court chambers, where the first trans person to argue in front of the court, Chase Strangio, delivered oral arguments. 

“I definitely understand being ashamed that Tennessee is the one to take this case,” Givens tells the Scene. “However, I do think the coverage, after the fact, has really shined a light on the advocates and the strength of the trans families and the strength of trans folks that are here in Tennessee. … I think people often disregard the South as being all MAGA, all against human rights, all against this. While that can be true in some ways, I think the South has a very unique position of taking its history and learning from it and making the state better in general.” 

Givens was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in eighth grade, and got top surgery at 17 in 2022. Givens, who is now 20, tells the Scene they haven’t regretted the surgery at all. 

The data on people regretting a transition is limited. A study from The Trevor Project shows that states that passed anti-transgender laws aimed at minors saw suicide attempts by trans and gender-nonconforming teens increase. The data will likely become even more limited, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped collecting data on trans people to comply with an executive order from President Donald Trump. The National Institutes of Health, on the other hand, was ordered to study detransition. The U.S. Census Bureau also stopped working on statistics related to trans people. 

Givens says trans people don’t always make it to 18, and it’s a challenge to find providers well-versed in mental health care for trans people — even though that’s what state lawmakers suggested following the ruling. 

“I just want lawmakers to have a little bit more of a broader perspective of what it’s actually like waiting until 18, because it’s an excruciating wait for many of us, and it was for me,” Givens says.   

 To end the press conference, Lamberth said the Supreme Court decision is a win for children in Tennessee, because it will “protect them from this liberal crazy crap.”