United States | Trans fix?

A big transgender-rights case heads to America’s Supreme Court

The justices take on paediatric gender medicine

Supreme Court Considers Tennessee's Ban On Treatments For Transgender Minors
Photograph: Getty Images

A case to be heard by the Supreme Court on December 4th is set to reignite debate about one of the election’s most controversial issues: the rights of transgender people, and specifically the medical transitioning of minors. In 2023, Tennessee enacted Senate Bill 1 (SB1), which bans puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery for minors who identify as trans. It is one of 26 states that have done so. Now, in United States v Skrmetti, the federal government, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is suing Tennessee on behalf of the parents of three teenagers, claiming the ban violates the equal-protection clause of the constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Explore more

More from United States

Xiaohongshu And TikTok Logos

A protest against America’s TikTok ban is mired in contradiction

Another Chinese app is not the alternative some young Americans think it is

Joe Biden drives a machine that's rolling out a carpet of the US flag for Donald Trump to walk on

How Joe Biden wound up serving Donald Trump

In some ways, his administration will look less like an interregnum than like MAGA-lite


Kids skate at the Venice Skatepark in LA, which is covered in ashes as smoke rises from the Palisades Fire

How bad will the smoke be for Angelenos’ health?

Expect more sickness and disrupted schooling


Should you have to prove your age before watching porn?

America’s Supreme Court weighs a Texan law aimed at protecting kids

Tulsi Gabbard, Sean Penn and the hunt for an American hostage

A controversial trip to Syria in 2017 produced a possible sighting of Austin Tice, an imprisoned journalist

How flush Americans feel depends on their views of Donald Trump

Republicans expect a Trumponomics boom, Democrats dread a bust