U.S. v. Skrmetti is so important to trans kids

ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, interviewed by Imara Jones, tells us that Tennessee

"very much wants to cast this case [U.S. v. Skrmetti] as a case about the federal government displacing the state government. But what this case really is about is…the government of Tennessee that has come in and said that: 'You parents who have loved your children since birth, who have cared for them, who have recognized in them deeply painful experiences of distress for years and found medication that your child and you and your doctors all agree is necessary - We know better. We are taking this option off the table.'"

A trans boy in the case

"started asserting himself and recognizing himself as a boy when he was two years old. He is only known as a boy in all aspects of his life, and he has been relying on this medication for years, and after, you know, six years of mental health treatment, after multiple specialists, after parents who themselves struggled and researched, and then you have the government of Tennessee acting like these are rash choices being made by individual eight-year-olds."

And

"they're standing in for thousands of families and young people across the country who are being displaced by these types of laws, who are being forced to flee their homes because of these types of laws, who...have had to split up with one parent taking a child out of state and another parent staying behind with other children...this is not just three people in Tennessee...I believe in my heart that every single one of the justices on some level can relate to the idea of just wanting to take care of someone that you love. And often those decisions are painful and personal and complex, and the idea that the government is going to impose insurmountable barriers to being able to make and execute those decisions is, I think, upsetting to many people, and hopefully the stories of these families, in addition to the legal arguments, will resonate with at least five members of the court."

This is from the November 14, 2024 episode of TransLash.

I summarized other parts of the episode on Medium.