Kentucky ban on gender-affirming care for trans kids now in effect after injunction stayed

An injunction blocking Kentucky's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender kids has been at least temporarily stayed, putting the law into effect for the first time since being passed earlier this year.

The new law was blocked June 28 by U.S. District Judge David Hale, who issued a temporary injunction, which was then appealed to the 6th Circuit by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

While the 6th Circuit is expected to soon rule on Cameron's appeal, Hale on Friday ordered that his previous injunction be stayed until there is a ruling on that appeal, citing a separate ruling by the 6th Circuit last week reversing an injunction on Tennessee's similar new ban on gender-affirming care for trans kids.

The ACLU of Kentucky filed the lawsuit in early May on behalf of transgender children and their parents to block portions of Senate Bill 150, a wide-ranging bill targeting trans youth.

The lawsuit called for blocking the parts of SB 150 that banned physicians from providing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to those under 18 years of age, arguing it singles out trans kids by blocking access to medical care that cisgender kids can receive and unjustly limits a parent's rights to make medical decisions for their children.

Hale issued a temporary injunction on that part of the law just a day before it was set to go into effect last month, finding that the plaintiffs showed "a strong likelihood of success on the merits of their constitutional challenges" to those parts of SB 150.

In his June ruling, Hale said "the treatments barred by SB 150 are medically appropriate and necessary for some transgender children under the evidence-based standard of care accepted by all major medical organizations in the United States."

With Hale issuing a stay Friday on his previous injunction, Cameron issued a statement calling the order "a win for parents and children."

"I’m grateful to the district court for doing what the law requires, which is protecting Kentucky kids from the irreversible harms that these experimental drug treatments would cause,” Cameron stated. “Moving forward, my office will continue to defend Senate Bill 150 and stand up for the right of children to be children, free from the influences of leftist activists and radical gender ideology.”

Corey Shapiro, ACLU of Kentucky's legal director, issued a statement disagreeing with the order to stay the injunction but added that "it is only in effect while our appeal is pending in front of the Sixth Circuit."

"It is not the final word, and we remain optimistic that with a full briefing we will achieve a positive result.”

Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky executive director Rebecca Blankenship and government affairs director Michael Frazier also indicated in a statement the fight to stop this specific provision of SB 150 is far from over, saying "today marks the beginning of what is hopefully a short, temporary period, but an extremely difficult moment for Kentucky's trans youth."

"Today's decision impacts hormone therapy and puberty blockers that science and the courts have already said are historically safe, effective, and for many, deeply needed."

Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, the lead sponsor of SB 150, praised the lifting of the injunction in a statement, thanking Cameron for "continuing to defend the legislation from activists attempting to undermine the will of Kentuckians."

Many other similar bans on hormone treatments for transgender youth that passed in other states have been blocked in federal courts, with Tennessee's the first to be upheld by an appeals court and go into effect last week, though that case is also ongoing.

More: Judge blocks Kentucky's ban on gender-affirming care for trans kids

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky ban on gender-affirming care for trans kids now in effect