It’s important to continue to scrutinize the minor transgender medical care industry after some states were victorious in a U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) case last month, according to Alabama Solicitor General Edmund LaCour.
SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in June that a Tennessee ban on transgender surgery for minors wasn’t discriminatory. SCOTUS’s decision will have major implications for other states, including Alabama, with similar bans.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Tennessee at the Supreme Court. In his concurring opinion, SCOTUS Associate Justice Clarence Thomas cited evidence uncovered by Marshall in his defense of Alabama’s ban that was reported on extensively by 1819 News.
LaCour discussed Alabama’s role in shining a light on the politicization of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH) standards of care for surgeries on a The Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors panel hosted by the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.
“In October of last year, we filed an Amicus brief in Skrmetti, laying all this out, really calling the United States to task for making their representations to the court when they knew what we knew, and explaining what we had uncovered about WPATH, which again had been cited multiple times by the private plaintiffs and by the United States in getting the court to take the case and in making their case at the court. That brief was cited extensively by Justice Thomas in his excellent concurrence, and so it was an honor to be able to do that work,” LaCour said on the panel on Wednesday.
He continued, “I think getting the word out is so critical. One problem we faced early on was that some of the things that were being done were just so horrible that most people wouldn't believe it, like ‘no, that can't be true.’ I mean, it's like this move: ‘like, surgeries aren't happening, and if they are, it's a good thing.’ But then you hear from the people who have been so damaged by it, and that can, I think, hopefully open people's minds up.”
“But then also, I agree with (co-panelist) Leor (Sapir), that there are some folks in the medical industry who have been tricked, and there are some who are doing the tricking. And for those who are in that latter group, I think it's going to be important to continue to investigate,” LaCour added.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected].
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
