Transmissions: Skrmetti decision harms trans youth

I hope you will indulge me as I take a moment to delve into a brief autobiography. I assure you, I have a point.

In 1970, Apollo 13 – the actual spacecraft, not the movie – splashed down after a near-tragic accident aboard the service module. Police opened fire on a protest at Kent State University in Ohio. Elvis Presley met with President Richard Nixon in the White House. The Beatles officially broke up.

Also, I had my first inkling, at 3 years old, that I might be transgender.

I didn't have the words for it at that time, of course. That wouldn't be for another five years or so, best guess. I had found out that I, somehow, was not a girl around then. Yes, that early in my life.

As I grew older, I had actually started to hear about trans people through rare moments of media coverage. Renée Richards’ brief career in tennis, and the fight to make that possible; Wendy Carlos' interview in Playboy in 1979; and a handful of less common stories gave me some hope that something could be done to help me.

I remember my first attempt to purge those feelings from me around 1978 or so. I also recall ending every nighttime prayer by asking God to miraculously let me awake the next day as a woman.

I scoured the card catalogs at the local library, trying to find any information, to almost no avail, with my only source of guidance being the odd tabloid story or confessional hidden within the pages of my father's magazines.

It would not be until I was in my 20s that I found useful information, and began to consider what might truly be possible. It would still be another five years of soul searching before I was able to transition.

Why tell you all this?

It is 2025, and singer Kid Rock visits President Donald Trump. Protesters are being assaulted by our government. SpaceX is destroying many of its rockets, or, as the company puts it, they undergo rapid unscheduled disassembly, including the most recent while still on the launch pad. Oh, and the Beatles won their first Grammy in decades.

Also, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its June 18 U.S. v. Skrmetti decision, set back rights for transgender youth by an incalculable number of years.

This case was brought in Tennessee after the state passed a law banning gender-affirming care for minors. Three transgender youth, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal Education and Defense Fund, sued the state. They were joined by a doctor, and, later, the Biden administration. The lawsuit argued that Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth was unconstitutional. The lawsuit was successful at the district court level, but the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, setting the stage for the Supreme Court.

The 6-3 high court loss last week wasn't a surprise; after oral arguments last December it was evident a majority of justices were not in support of reversing Tennessee’s ban. This, after all, is the court that overturned Roe v. Wade, another case rooted in body autonomy. Likewise, this is a court largely in lockstep with the Trump administration, which has shown itself more than willing to hurt transgender people. (After President Donald Trump took office in January, his solicitor general’s office wrote to the court and withdrew from the Skrmetti case, stating that the new administration would not have intervened in the legal challenge.)

Yes, I know that we're hardly special when it comes to the cruel, often violent, actions of this administration.

The court’s decision is, in my view, convoluted, having to weasel around to a ruling against transgender people. It isn't so much targeting transgender people but gender dysphoria. You know, the thing a vast majority of transgender people face. (Gender dysphoria is defined by the medical profession as clinically significant discomfort that one’s sexual identity is different than one’s documented gender at birth.)

Meanwhile, this won't affect non-transgender youth who end up seeking the exact same care as their trans counterparts.

The case may, of course, have larger ramifications for transgender people. Aside from the decision upholding such bans in more than half the states that have already passed similar laws – 25 bans remain in place, a few are still being challenged in court, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation – this can lead to a further unraveling of transgender rights of all sorts – and even potentially cut into the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

What the Skrmetti decision does, however, is bad enough. There are kids who, like I was, well aware of who they are right now. Many of them have already, with the aid of their parents and medical professionals, begun to undergo treatment. Now, they will lose that if they reside in a state with such a ban.

There are many out there arguing right now that this decision was the result of transgender people asking for too many rights.

Setting aside the fact that rights in this country are inalienable, and that any reasonable person would believe that a child receiving appropriate treatment under the care of a medical professional and with the assent of their parents is surely a right we should be enjoying in this country, I once again note that it is the conservative right – from pundits who have made it a calling to "ask questions" about trans care to the highest office in the land – who have made transgender issues into the cause célèbre it is.

This is the work of a right-wing that wants a soft target and found traction with transgender people. They haven't stopped in a decade, and they will continue to push against transgender people for as long as they see a value in it.

Nevertheless, now that it is what it is, I contend that it is on all of us to stand up for transgender youth – and by extension, all transgender people – in the wake of this decision. It's what we should be doing not as transgender and nonbinary people, or allies, but as human beings who expect to be part of society. This is actually about protecting children and families in need.

Out there, right now, is a 3-year-old in Tennessee – or even right here – who may be discovering that they don't fit in. For them, however, the message they receive will be very different from mine. All I had was a lack of resources, and while the libraries will be just as bare, the news, and our very society, will be telling them that they don't deserve care.

For the child I was, and for the children yet to come, this is the time to let your voice ring in pride – and protection.

Gwen Smith is always ready to stand. You can find her at www.gwensmith.com