Federal judge blocks Arkansas trans youth treatment ban

Ty AlbrightJuly 21, 2021

Transgender Youth Medical Ban — FILE - In this April 15, 2021 file photo, Andrew Bostad, center, talks with his mother, Brandi Evans and stepdad Jimmy Evans at their home in Bauxite, Ark. Andrew is one of hundreds of transgender youth in Arkansas who could have their hormone therapy cut off under a new state law banning gender confirming treatments for minors. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo, File)

(AP) A federal judge has temporarily blocked Arkansas’ ban on gender confirming treatments for transgender youth while a lawsuit challenging the prohibition proceeds. U.S. District Judge Jay Moody in Little Rock issued the ruling Wednesday. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in May asking the judge to strike down the law that made Arkansas the first state to forbid doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or sex reassignment surgery to anyone under 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for such treatment. Arkansas’ GOP-dominated Legislature overrode Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of the measure.

Ty AlbrightJuly 21, 2021