On Wednesday, the Biden Department of Justice announced that it was suing the state of Tennessee over a new law that makes it illegal to perform gender reassignment surgeries and hormone treatments on children. The lawsuit claims that the new law is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
In March, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, signed the bill, SB1, along with an accompanying bill, SB3, which banned drag shows for children. The DOJ argues that SB1 discriminates against so-called transgender children. The law was scheduled to take effect on July 1, but the DOJ is requesting that implementation be delayed until the matter is decided.
Thus far, SB3 has not been challenged by the Justice Department.
“No person should be denied access to necessary medical care just because of their transgender status,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ. “The right to consider your health and medically-approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right that everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety and suicide. The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department will continue to aggressively challenge all forms of discrimination and unlawful barriers faced by the LGBTQI+ community.”
The lawsuit is asking that the judge issue a preliminary injunction restraining the state from enforcing the law, and eventually declare that the law violates the 14th Amendment, rendering it null.
Several states have passed similar laws shielding children from transgender mutilation. In a letter to all state attorneys general, Clarke pressured state officials to carefully peruse such laws to ensure “that transgender youth, like all youth, are treated fairly and with dignity in accordance with federal law.”
U.S. attorney Henry Leventis, one of those bringing the case against the Volunteer State, argued that the law harms Tennessee’s “most vulnerable citizens.”
“SB1 violates the constitutional rights of some of Tennessee’s most vulnerable citizens,” he said. “Left unchallenged, it would prohibit transgender children from receiving health care that their medical providers and their parents have determined to be medically necessary. In doing so, the law seeks to substitute the judgment of trained medical professionals and parents with that of elected officials and codifies discrimination against children who already face far too many obstacles.”
Governor Lee was defiant about the lawsuit, pointing out that the new law actually protected children from making irreversible mistakes with their bodies.
“Tennessee is committed to protecting children from permanent, life-altering decisions. This is federal overreach at its worst, and we will work with Attorney General Skrmetti to push back in court and stand up for children,” Lee said.
A co-sponsor of the bill, Tennessee House Majority Leader William Lamberth, a Republican, argued at the time that the procedures don’t even truly address the problem connected with so-called transgenderism.
“These children do not need these medical procedures to be able to flourish as adults,” Lamberth said. “They need mental health treatment. They need love and support, and many of them need to be able to grow up to become the individuals that they were intended to be.”
In addition to the DOJ, the ACLU has also filed suit, along with Lambda Legal, the parents of a fifteen-year-old transgender child, two other families, and Memphis-based transgender physician Susan Lacy. The ACLU argues that the Tennessee law is an attack against so-called transgender children and their families.
“The brave families filing this lawsuit are taking a stand for their transgender children despite being targeted by hateful politicians and media personalities,” said ACLU attorney Lucas Cameron-Vaughn.
You can almost forgive the ACLU for suing on behalf of the left-wing agenda — that’s what they do. You can’t expect snakes not to be snakes, after all.
But the federal government’s involvement is something else. As Gov. Lee correctly points out, it’s government overreach at its worst.
This lawsuit speaks directly to the Biden administration’s priorities, and it’s unfortunate that in a world full of violent crime, sex slavery, and arson attacks on crisis pregnancy centers, the Justice Department actually sees attacking this commonsense law as a prime concern.
Unfortunately, in 2023 America, the federal government has been weaponized in support of an anti-Christian, pro-LGBT, and, ultimately, anti-human agenda.
