transgender ban
Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth awaits court ruling
*This story was updated at 6:25 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022, with additional details from Thursday’s testimony. Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors awaits a decision from a federal judge after the defense rested its case Thursday. The proceedings lasted eight days, four in October and four in November, as the […]
“Detransitioned” adults defend Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for minors
Two individuals who “detransitioned,” or lived as transgender but now live as their gender assigned at birth, testified in favor of the Arkansas law banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors Wednesday in federal court. Plaintiffs’ attorney Aviv Halpern asked Laura Perry Smalts of Oklahoma City if she was assigned female at birth. “I was […]
Judge, attorneys scrutinize witness expertise in trial on Arkansas transgender law
A federal judge and plaintiffs’ attorneys expressed frustration at testimony Tuesday from defense witnesses in the ongoing trial challenging Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. A sociologist and a plastic surgeon, called by lawyers for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office in defense of the 2021 law, expressed doubts about the safety and effectiveness […]
Trial challenging Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for minors resumes
The trial against Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth resumed Monday with the second witness for the defense, led by Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office. Monday’s witness was Dr. Stephen Levine, an Ohio-based psychiatrist with a focus on sexual dysfunction and “transsexualism,” as transgender identity was called in the 1970s when his […]
Trial challenging gender-affirming health care ban for transgender minors resumes Friday
The legal challenge to Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors continues today in federal court, with lawyers from Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office set to present a case to enact the 2021 law. Act 626, known as the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act, prohibits physicians from providing “gender transition” treatments such […]
Transgender teen shares experience with gender-affirming care in trial against Arkansas law
Dylan Brandt finally feels proud of his yearbook pictures after more than two years of testosterone treatments, he said Wednesday in federal court. Brandt, 17, is one of the four transgender minors challenging Act 626, Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming medical care for people under 18. He was the final witness for the plaintiffs, represented by […]
Parents of transgender Arkansas minors testify in favor of gender-affirming care
Donnie Saxton said his son Parker’s depression returned in May 2021 when the Arkansas Legislature was about to pass a bill that would become Act 626. “He said, ‘I feel like we’ve done all this for nothing,’” referring to Parker’s gender transition process so far, Donnie Saxton said. Act 626 bans gender-affirming medical care for […]
Federal trial over Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care underway
This story was updated at 11:26 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17, to include additional comments. The federal trial challenging Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors began Monday with testimony from medical professionals with years of experience treating people, including minors, with gender dysphoria. Act 626 of 2021, or the Save Adolescents From Experimentation […]
Law banning care for transgender youth in Arkansas will go on trial Monday
Arkansas’ currently blocked ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors will go on trial in federal court Monday in Little Rock. Several transgender minors, their parents and two doctors who provide gender-affirming care challenged the 2021 law in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. U.S. District Judge James Moody will […]
Appeals court allows transgender care to continue in Arkansas
A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld an injunction blocking Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender children. The three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kept in place U.S. District Judge James Moody’s order that temporarily blocked Arkansas authorities from enforcing Act 626, which was enacted in 2021 after the […]