Statement: The Los Angeles LGBT Center Mourns for Trans Youth as Supreme Court Upholds Cruel Ban on Gender-Affirming Care
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The Center stands in firm solidarity with transgender youth and their families, and remains committed to advancing policies and protections that ensure their freedom, safety, and dignity.
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LOS ANGELES — JUNE 18, 2025 — In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, the Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Joe Hollendoner issued the following statement:
“Today, the Los Angeles LGBT Center mourns the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth in United States v. Skrmetti.
This decision marks a devastating failure to uphold the basic constitutional rights of transgender young people. By finding that Tennessee’s law does not draw a sex-based (or trans based) distinction—and thus only requires rational basis review—this Court has allowed a blatantly discriminatory law to remain in effect.
The result is both cruel and dangerous. Tennessee’s ban prohibits medically necessary, evidence-based care—such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy—for transgender minors, while still permitting those same treatments for cisgender youth. It is a clear act of discrimination, rooted not in science or medical best practice, but in political ideology.
Make no mistake: This ruling will cause real harm in real time. Families are being forced to uproot their lives just to access basic health care. Transgender young people are being told by the highest court in the land that their health, safety, and futures are negotiable.
Importantly, this ruling does not change the law in states like California, where gender-affirming care remains legal and protected. The Center will remain in unwavering solidarity with TGNBI+ youth and their families in Tennessee—and here in Los Angeles, where we have seen similar attacks, including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ decision to end access to gender-affirming services in clear violation of state law.
Now more than ever, we need our medical partners to stand with our community and not act out of fear—or worse, align with the policies of a resurgent Trump-era agenda. We will continue to fight for our freedoms, including every young person’s right to access life-saving, affirming care.
As Justice Sotomayor wrote in her powerful dissent: ‘The majority subjects a law that plainly discriminates on the basis of sex to mere rational-basis review. By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent.’
We echo that dissent—and we will not back down.”
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About the Los Angeles LGBT Center
Since 1969 the Los Angeles LGBT Center has cared for, championed, and celebrated LGBT individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond. Today the Center’s nearly 800 employees provide services for more LGBT people than any other organization in the world, offering programs, services, and global advocacy that span four broad categories: Health, Social Services and Housing, Culture and Education, Leadership and Advocacy. We are an unstoppable force in the fight against bigotry and the struggle to build a better world; a world in which LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org