PRESS RELEASE: DFI Calls on the Supreme Court to Protect Children and Uphold Tennessee’s Ban on Irreversible Gender Transition Treatments for Minors

WASHINGTON—The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI) filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court today urging the justices to uphold Tennessee’s ban on performing risky and unproven gender transition treatments on minors.

The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, centers on whether the state’s law banning these procedures on minors violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. DFI argues the state is well within its rights to regulate these practices to protect children and that the U.S. Department of Justice’s assertion that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County applies to this case is fundamentally flawed.    

“Contrary to the United States’ characterization of the decision, Bostock never purported to offer some ‘fundamental insight about the nature of sex discrimination [that] applies in the equal-protection context,’ or anywhere else outside of Title VII,” the brief states.  “Rather, Bostock explicitly acknowledged the limited reach of its holding. Bostock interpreted specific statutory language in light of specific factual circumstances, and its ‘reasoning’ does not apply to circumstances far afield from Title VII, like those in this case.”

In 2023, Tennessee passed S.B. 1, restricting sex-change surgeries, puberty blockers, and other hormone-altering medical interventions for children under the age of 18.  In response, several Tennessee residents sued the state to prevent the restrictions on puberty blockers and hormone therapy from taking effect. The Biden-Harris Justice Department intervened in the case on the side of the plaintiffs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the statute in its entirety, and the United States petitioned the Supreme Court to review the decision.   

“Our society prohibits children under the age of 18 from voting, signing legal documents, and drinking alcohol, but the Biden-Harris administration is perfectly comfortable allowing these same children to undergo life-altering, irreversible gender transition treatments,” said DFI President and Co-Founder Bob Eitel. “DFI will fight alongside Tennessee and other states that are doing all they can to protect kids from the dangerous pseudo-science of ‘gender-affirming care.’”  

DFI’s Senior Litigation Counsel Don Daugherty added, “In this case and elsewhere, the Justice Department hopes to leverage Bostock, which the Supreme Court explicitly confined to the area of federal employment law, to promote a transgender agenda with no public support. The Supreme Court should reject the federal government’s relentless efforts to extend Bostock beyond its proper context, and respect the decisions of the people of Tennessee.”

Twenty-four states have passed laws in recent years that protect minors from these irreversible, life-altering procedures.

To read DFI’s amicus brief in U.S. v. Skrmetti, click here.