Parents of Alabama trans youth express relief as federal court halts ‘cruel law’

Families in Alabama and LGBT+ advocates and healthcare providers are breathing a momentary sigh of relief after a federal judge partially blocked enforcement of Alabama’s recently passed state law criminalising gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

US District Judge Liles C Burke, who was appointed by Donald Trump, issued a preliminary injunction to stop the state from banning measures such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender people under age 19. The court said the state’s ban – which makes medical treatments a felony – violates the constitutional rights of both transgender children and their parents.

Families “have a fundamental right to direct the medical care of their children,” according to Judge Burke. “This right includes the more specific right to treat their children with transitioning medications subject to medically accepted standards.”