Government officials have no business planting themselves in the middle of my ability to make health care decisions.
In the coming months, the Supreme Court will issue a ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti, one of the most high-profile and consequential cases to be heard this term. Oral arguments took place on December 4, and law nerds and political pundits are already speculating what the Court might do.
For me, the outcome of this case isn’t a fun logic puzzle or casual bet to make among friends and watch from afar. It feels incredibly personal and invasive. The outcome will severely impact my ability as a parent to care for my daughter, who is a transgender girl.
It could prevent me from working with doctors to get her the indispensable, lifesaving health care that she has received safely for years and which she needs to live and thrive. The fundamental freedom that most parents take for granted in raising their children and making basic decisions about what’s best for their individual needs is in limbo for me and other parents raising transgender youth because of this case being brought forward.
U.S. v. Skrmetti challenges the constitutionality of a law passed in Tennessee that bans health care for transgender youth, including hormone therapy and puberty-pausing medications.
The core question of the case isn’t the safety of the treatments for young people—other youth in Tennessee continue to freely be prescribed the same medications, as long as they are not transgender. The law specifically targets the availability of the treatments for families seeking to support their transgender kids and make health decisions alongside expert providers trained in this type of care.
The case does not address the question of surgery, which is already rarely performed and, in the few instances it is, is overwhelmingly undergone by non-transgender youth.
For many people, Skrmetti’s outcome will have no effect on their personal lives. For me and millions of other Americans with transgender loved ones, it means everything. What’s lacking behind the deluge of policies, proposals, and political debates are the faces and voices of those affected.
My transgender daughter is a senior in high school. She has just completed the daunting task of sending off college applications and aspires to follow in the footsteps of her father and grandmother by becoming a nurse. She loves to spend time with friends and family, express her creative side, and pet sit. She is a smart, witty, and very loving 17-year-old, who is thriving mainly because of the care she’s received over the past few years, in close consultation with health providers that we trust.
As a parent, it was challenging to find resources on how to support my daughter when she first began to express to me that she is transgender.
