A law prohibiting doctors from helping transgender children transition their gender has been overturned by a US federal judge in Arkansas.
The law prohibiting minors from receiving hormonal or surgical treatments was the first one of its kind to be passed in the country by the southern state.
In the two years since, at least 19 additional states have enacted comparable restrictions.
However, the decision on Tuesday concluded that Arkansas had not adequately demonstrated that its law was intended to "protect children".
The state's administration has vowed to challenge the judgment.
The ruling by US District Judge Jay Moody could have an impact on laws with a similar structure in other states with a Republican majority.
In an eight-day trial over the ban, the judge heard testimony from parents, doctors, and children who said their lives had improved as a result of transitioning treatment. In the meantime, the state called four expert witnesses who questioned the efficacy of such therapy and the validity of gender dysphoria research, as well as two adults who had "de-transitioned.".
The plaintiffs had demonstrated that the care "can relieve the clinically significant distress associated with gender dysphoria in adolescents," according to Judge Moody, who ruled that the state "failed to provide sufficient evidence that the banned treatments are ineffective or experimental.".
He claimed it violated the rights of transgender children and their families under the US Constitution to forbid hormone therapy, puberty inhibitors, or surgery for anyone under the age of 18.
There is no scientific evidence that any child will benefit from these procedures, and the effects are harmful and frequently long-lasting, according to Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, who also announced that the state would file an appeal. " .
In April 2021, Republicans in Arkansas passed the law over the veto of then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, who had denounced it as a "vast government overreach.".
It was necessary, according to the bill's proponents, to control medical choices that could have "harmful and frequently permanent" effects on young patients.
The law was challenged on behalf of four transgender teenagers, their families, and two doctors by the nonprofit American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Dylan Brandt, a 17-year-old witness for the plaintiffs, expressed his gratitude to the judge during his testimony at the trial.
In addition to ensuring that transgender people like me can live openly and truthfully, he added, "My mom and I wanted to fight this law not just to protect my healthcare but also to ensure that transgender people generally.".
Governor of Arkansas Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she would appeal the decision.
She claimed on Twitter that this was not "care" but rather activists pushing a political agenda at the expense of our children and subjecting them to harmful procedures that would last a lifetime.
"The idea that it is inappropriate to protect children only exists in the far-Left's woke vision of America. ".
The court decision from Tuesday may serve as a model for the ACLU to challenge the legality of hormonal or surgical treatments for transgender minors in seven additional states.
Federal courts have also upheld legislation of a similar nature in Alabama, Florida, and Indiana.
Deputy director for transgender justice at the ACLU Chase Strangio said, "We hope that this sends a message to other states about the vulnerability of these laws and the many harms that come from passing them."
