Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, a challenge to Tennessee’s law that prohibits children from receiving life-altering gender “transition” interventions. The Supreme Court’s decision to review the law follows the Sixth Circuit ruling in favor of Tennessee’s and Kentucky’s laws prohibiting such procedures. The Family Foundation, along with several allied family policy organizations, previously joined an amicus brief supporting Tennessee’s protections for children against life-altering gender “transition” interventions that physically mutilate and disorder their healthy bodies.
You can read the brief, written by the Family Action Council of Tennessee, here.
The Family Foundation’s director of policy, Nick Spencer, was at the Supreme Court in support of Tennessee’s law.
Speaking at a rally outside of the Supreme Court this morning, Spencer remarked, “The government has a duty to care for these children and promote their long-term flourishing by preventing these destructive procedures. States like Tennessee, my state of Kentucky, and others around the nation have taken the first step in that direction. We have risen to the moment and have met the challenge. We have proclaimed loudly that it is good for men to be men and women to be women.”
Statement from David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation:
“We pray the High Court will uphold these commonsense laws protecting children from harmful ‘gender transitions.’ The Sixth Circuit was right to uphold Tennessee’s and Kentucky’s laws that protect children from these irreversible medical experiments that leave children physically and chemically mutilated.
“For all of human history, the truth that the human person is objectively and profoundly male or female has been the cornerstone of all civilizations. We pray that the Court’s decision will recognize the harms perpetrated upon children in the name of “gender-affirming” care, and that they would rightly allow for Kentucky, Tennessee, and other states to protect our most vulnerable fellow image-bearers from lifelong harm,” Walls concluded.
The group Do No Harm recently released a study that revealed that almost 14,000 children have undergone dangerous transgender procedures, which include mutilating surgeries, cross-sex hormone injections, and puberty blockers. The Family Foundation played an integral role in supporting the passage of Kentucky’s Senate Bill 150 in 2023 and in supporting its commonsense protections for children that ban these dangerous procedures. We urge the Court to uphold Tennessee’s law, and protect the right of states like Kentucky to protect children from irreparable harm.
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The Family Foundation is the leading Christian public policy organization in Kentucky and stands for Kentucky families and the Biblical values that make them strong. Learn more at kentuckyfamily.org.
