Gender-affirming care for children is once again banned after the same judge who temporarily blocked the ban reversed course on Friday.
The decision means that the parts of the law initially blocked are now in place.
The ban blocks transgender children from receiving hormone therapy or puberty blockers as treatment, leaving some to celebrate the judge’s order and some to hope it’s just temporary.
“Today marks the beginning of what is hopefully a short, temporary period, but an extremely difficult moment for Kentucky’s trans youth,” said Rebecca Blankenship, executive director of Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge David Hale reversed an earlier decision he made blocking the ban, but a recent decision in Tennessee from the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a similar ruling that upheld a ban on gender-affirming care.
“In light of last week’s 6th Circuit decision, Judge Hale has predictably ruled that some provisions of S.B. 150 can go into effect—for now,” Blankenship said.
After Gale’s initial decision blocking the ban, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed an emergency motion challenging Hale’s temporary injunction on the ban.
“Today’s ruling is a win for parents and children,” Cameron said. “I’m grateful to the district court for doing what the law requires, which is protecting Kentucky kids from the irreversible harms that these experimental drug treatments would cause.”
Cameron petitioned the court of appeals in late June but issued filed the emergency motion after a judge ruled in favor of Tennessee’s ban.
The ACLU, along with seven unnamed families with transgender children filed under pseudonyms for safety, are the plaintiffs in a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky to block the portion of SB150 that bans children under the age of 18 from receiving gender-affirming care.
“While we strongly disagree with this opinion, it is only in effect while our appeal is pending in front of the Sixth Circuit,” said Corey Shapiro, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky. “It is not the final word, and we remain optimistic that with a full briefing, we will achieve a positive result.”
Senate Bill 150 is an “omnibus” bill that prohibits schools from teaching sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms, forces transgender students to use the bathroom that aligns with the gender assigned at birth and allows teachers to deadname transgender students.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available