A federal district court judge issued a temporary halt on protecting transgender health care.
This would have prohibited insurers and medical professionals from refusing hormone therapy, gender transition surgeries, and related medical treatment for transgender individuals.
U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. supported 15 states in their argument that the 1972 Title IX law prohibits discrimination based on biological sex, not gender identity.
The ruling impacts the implementation of the Affordable Care Act regulation scheduled for Friday.
This ruling is a major obstacle to the Biden administration's attempts to broaden safeguards against discrimination. Recently, three federal judges halted a regulation in various states that aimed to safeguard LGBTQ+ students by expanding the scope of sexual harassment in schools under Title IX.
Biden's Transgender Health Care Blocked
Healthcare protections for gender identity were first included during the Obama administration, taken away during former President Donald Trump's term, and subsequently reinstated by the Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year.
The updated regulation added safeguards against biased treatment related to gender norms, sexual preference, gender identification, and biological sex traits.
The 15 states, led by Tennessee, argued that the new rule would impose financial burdens if they complied under Medicaid or other federal health programs, or risk losing federal funding if they did not. The plaintiffs claimed that the rule prioritized gender ideology over medical realities.
Cody Smith, an attorney for the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, testified that the state's Medicaid program and the Children's Health Insurance Program do not cover gender transition procedures for minors, which are rare, nor do they cover surgeries to treat mental health conditions.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves commended the ruling, saying that the Biden administration tried to weaken Title IX by drastically redefining it to include gender identity.
Reeves expressed gratitude for the judge's decision to support Mississippi and other states in standing up for women and defending the current state of Title IX.
Broader Implications
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, and the attorneys general for Tennessee and Mississippi failed to promptly reply to inquiries for feedback.
The office of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee chose not to provide a statement on the ongoing legal action.
The president of the Human Rights Campaign, Kelley Robinson, criticized the decision as immoral and stated that every individual should have the right to receive necessary medical treatment in order to stay healthy.
Instead, this court has chosen to support fringe groups and politicians who aim to intimidate the LGBTQ+ community whenever possible.
Robinson further stated that the issue is not yet resolved and has a strong conviction that every LGBTQ+ individual should access the healthcare they are entitled to and have the autonomy to make informed choices regarding their own bodies.
Ongoing Legal Battles
District Judge Louis Guirola Jr., appointed by President George W. Bush, ruled that allowing the Biden administration's rule to take effect would cause immediate and substantial harm through compliance costs or lost federal funding.
Tennessee's GOP Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who spearheaded the legal action, praised the ruling, asserting that a federal court rejected the Biden administration's unlawful push for all healthcare providers in the US to embrace the most radical form of gender ideology.
This ruling marks another chapter in the ongoing legal battles over health care protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, as the Biden administration seeks to expand anti-discrimination measures while facing strong opposition from several conservative states.
