FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — The ACLU of Kentucky and the National Center for Lesbian Rights teamed up in a lawsuit seeking to block the portion of Senate Bill 150 that bans gender-affirming health care for trans kids in Kentucky.
The groups claim the ban violates "the fundamental rights and freedoms of parents to direct the upbringing of their children."
“Under the Constitution, trans youth in Kentucky have the right to medically necessary care. We are filing litigation [Thursday] to protect against this imminent threat to their well-being and make certain they can thrive by continuing to receive medical care," said Corey Shapiro, the legal director of the ACLU of Kentucky.
Kentucky's ban begins on June 29th. So, Shapiro says they will be asking the Court to block it in order to help trans kids continue receiving their treatments, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
Shapiro argues that Kentucky's ban targets vulnerable children.
"These kids are already facing stigmatism and bullying and we know the statistics (to back that) are there," said Shapiro. "This bill is just another attempt by our legislature to sort of target these kids."
The ACLU of Kentucky argues that "bills that ban essential medical care are not based on science or best practices and are not supported or endorsed by the leading major medical groups."
"These unconstitutional measures are political attacks from groups with a fundamental opposition to transgender people being able to live openly, freely, and affirmed as who they really are," the group added.
However, the Family Foundation, a group that supports Kentucky's ban, was critical of the lawsuit. The group believes the ban offers important measures of protection.
“The ACLU’s challenge of SB 150’s commonsense protections for children, and the harmful interventions documented in the complaint, only underscore the need for Kentucky’s protections against physically harming children in the name of denying their biological sex and ‘transitioning’ them," said David Walls, the group's executive director.
"The off-label use of irreversible puberty blockers, along with cross-sex hormones, in experimental gender ‘transitions’ are harmful and used as a gateway to mutilating sex change surgeries," Walls added. "These interventions have no place in children’s healthcare."
