Arkansas is one of nearly two dozen states that have proposed or enacted bans targeting trans youth.
A federal appeals court on Thursday supported a temporary ban on Arkansas from enforcing a ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender children—a blow to state conservatives in the state amid a growing national movement targeting certain types of medical treatments.
The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the law in May 2021, shortly after it was enacted, on behalf of four transgender children and their families. It follows a larger movement targeting a range of trans issues in various conservative states, including a Texas Supreme Court ruling in May that allowed a policy directing state officials to investigate the parents of transgender children for “child abuse” to go into effect, after it was blocked by a lower state court.
