Citing Skrmetti, appeals court rejects challenge to Oklahoma ban on gender-affirming care for youth

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10^th Circuit has rejected a challenge to Oklahoma’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, upholding a lower court’s action.

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The appeals court relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, a case involving a similar law in Tennessee. The high court ruled that states could ban this care for treatment of gender dysphoria in young people.

In the Oklahoma case, a trial court had denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction that would have blocked the ban’s enforcement while the case continued. The 10^th Circuit waited to rule on the plaintiffs’ appeal until Skrmetti was decided. “Relying on Skrmetti, we affirm the district court’s preliminary injunction denial,” Judge Joel M. Carson III wrote for a three-judge panel of the 10^th Circuit.

Oklahoma passed the law banning this care in May 2023. Punishments for violation include felony charges against health care providers.

Families with trans children and one health care professional sued to challenge the law, arguing that it violates their rights under Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. The lawsuit also alleges that the September 2022 decision to stop providing gender-affirming care to transgender adolescents at Oklahoma University hospitals to maintain access to COVID funding relief violated both the Equal Protection Clause and Section 1557. They are represented by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the ACLU of Oklahoma.

“Today’s ruling is a devastating outcome for transgender youth and their families across Oklahoma and another tragic result of the Supreme Court’s errant and harmful ruling in Skrmetti,” said a joint statement from the legal groups. “Oklahoma’s ban is openly discriminatory and provably harmful to the transgender youth of this state, putting political dogma above parents, their children, and their family doctors. While we and our clients consider our next steps, we want all transgender people and their families across Oklahoma to know we will never stop fighting for the future they deserve and their freedom to be themselves.”