Arkansas: Court Strikes Down Child Sex Reassignment Ban

Facts

• On Tuesday, a federal district court judge struck down an Arkansas law that banned sex reassignment therapies for transgender youth, ruling the state's first-in-the-nation ban violates the constitutional rights of trans patients, their families, and medical providers.¹
• In his ruling, Judge Jay Moody — who temporarily blocked the law days before it was set to take effect in 2021 — noted that "Act 626" violated the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.²
• Issuing a permanent injunction against the law, Moody said that Act 626 — which also prohibited doctors from referring patients elsewhere for sex-reassignment therapies — deprived trans people under 18 of treatments like hormone therapy and puberty blockers.³
• Though the ruling affects only Act 626, it reportedly carries implications for other GOP-led US states that have enacted similar laws restricting or banning sex reassignment therapies for minors following Arkansas' law.⁴
• Tuesday's ruling comes days after a federal judge in Indiana temporarily blocked a similar ban on puberty blockers and hormones for transgender minors from taking effect as scheduled on July 1.⁵
• Meanwhile, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said the state will appeal the ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²NPR Online News, ³CBS, ⁴CNN, ⁵New York Times, and ⁶Washington Post.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by American Civil Liberties Union. Gender-affirming care is essential for improving and ensuring the mental health and well-being of transgender youth, and Arkansas' anti-trans law violates the first amendment rights of doctors and the equal protection rights of trans youth, as the state doesn't have the power to prohibit the use of state money for gender-affirming care or place new restrictions on patients seeking treatment. This ruling eviscerates the state's anti-trans policies and bigotry that fueled such legislation.
• Right narrative, as provided by National Review. Unfortunately, the judge ignored decades of clinical experience and scientific research to allow the so-called activists to push a political agenda at the expense of Arkansan children. Laws like Act 626 are necessary to protect minors who are too young to consent to such irreversible sex reassignment treatments or make potentially detrimental decisions about their futures. Preventing the state from shielding its children against dangerous medical experimentation sets a dangerous precedent.