Supreme Court Gives California Schools Go-Ahead To Out Trans Kids — For Now
A state law and school policies aimed at protecting students' gender expression have been put on hold while a lawsuit filed by parents proceeds in the lower courts. Meanwhile in New York, NYU Langone Health has been ordered to resume the care it had previously offered to transgender youth.
AP:
Supreme Court Blocks California Schools' Transgender Policy
The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for California schools to tell parents if their children identify as transgender without getting the student’s approval, granting an emergency appeal from a conservative legal group. The order blocks for now a state law that bans automatic parental notification requirements if students change their pronouns or gender expression at school. (Whitehurst, 3/3)
The New York Times:
N.Y. Attorney General Orders Hospital To Resume Youth Transgender Care
The New York attorney general’s office has ordered a major Manhattan hospital to resume providing puberty-blocking medication and hormone treatments to transgender adolescents, just two weeks after the hospital had stopped doing so. The hospital, NYU Langone Health, had closed its Transgender Youth Health Program after the federal government threatened to pull federal funding from hospitals that provided gender-transition treatments for adolescents. (Goldstein, 3/2)
The Hill:
Texas Attorney General: ‘Illegal’ For Mental Health Providers To ‘Transition’ Kids In State
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on Monday issued a legal opinion that it is illegal for mental health care providers to “transition” children under state law. In 2023, Texas S.B. 14 went into effect, banning gender-affirming care to treat gender dysphoria in adolescents. The bill barred the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for adolescents, though surgical treatments for gender dysphoria are almost never performed before adulthood. This law, according to Paxton’s opinion, also applies to “indoctrination by activists providing mental ‘health care’ designed to confuse children about their gender.” (Choi, 3/2)
The New York Times:
Transgender Kansas Residents Sue After Driver’s Licenses Are Invalidated
Two transgender Kansans asked a state judge on Friday to strike down a new law that abruptly invalidated the driver’s licenses of residents who had changed their gender designations. (Harmon, 2/27)
The Conversation:
Kansas Revoked Transgender People’s IDs Overnight – Researchers Anticipate Cascading Health And Social Consequences
With invalid driver’s licenses and birth certificates, transgender people are at risk for more than just steep fines and imprisonment. (Puckett, DuBois and Martin, 3/1)
In other news from across the U.S. —
Mirror Indy:
Lawmakers Add ID Requirement To Indiana’s Needle Exchanges
Lawmakers will require people to show IDs to use Indiana’s needle exchange programs under legislation heading to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk. Senate Bill 91 also extends the program for another five years. Previously, a person could anonymously swap used needles for clean ones at approved sites in six counties. The programs are credited with curbing bloodborne infections across the state, including HIV and hepatitis C cases. (Molloy, 2/27)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Newsom: S.F. Is Among The Worst Counties For Implementing CARE Court
Gov. Gavin Newsom named San Francisco County’s CARE Court program as one of the lowest-performing in California on Monday, as part of a new effort to bolster his signature mental health care program. (Bollag, 3/2)
CBS News:
Lawsuit Accuses Illinois Prison Of Forcing Pregnant Woman Into Induced Labor
A woman is suing the Illinois Department of Corrections, claiming she was forced to give birth before her due date while she was incarcerated in 2024. According to the federal lawsuit, Amy Hicks was in custody at Logan Correctional Center in downstate Lincoln for a drug conviction in 2024. She was 7 ½ months pregnant. Prison officials told Hicks it was prison policy to schedule an induction for all pregnant inmates. Hicks filed a grievance, saying she wanted to go into labor naturally, but she was still forced to undergo the procedure, according to the lawsuit. (Feurer, 3/2)
The New York Times:
In The Northwest, Polyamory Finds Something New: Legal Protection
Under President Trump’s leadership, the country as a whole is swinging to the right on social policy. But the Pacific Northwest, as usual, is swinging its own way. A wave of recent local ordinances in large liberal bastions like Portland, Ore., but also smaller communities like Astoria, Ore., which has a population of 10,181, would confer the beginning of legal protections to polyamorous relationships. The goal, pushed by a group based in California, is to establish legally protected family structures for groups of adults who are romantically or otherwise tied together under one roof. (Griffin, 2/28)
