U.S District Judge David Hale has blocked a section of Senate Bill 150, a law banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, which was supposed to take effect on June 29.
Senate Bill 150 was passed by the Kentucky general assembly during this year’s legislative session and caused immediate outrage in the LGBTQ community.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed for the injunction in May, stating lawmakers are violating the rights and freedoms of parents and their children in Kentucky.
“We are grateful to the court for enjoining this egregious ban on medically necessary care which would have caused harm for countless young Kentuckians,” stated ACLU Kentucky Legal Director Corey Shapiro in a press release.
Shapiro further stated the injunction is only the first step and that he is prepared to fight for families’ rights to make their own private medical decisions.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron reportedly called this decision misguided and continued with the following statement:
“Today’s misguided decision by a federal judge tramples the right of the General Assembly to make public policy for the Commonwealth. Senate Bill 150 is a commonsense law that protects Kentucky children from unnecessary medical experimentation with powerful drugs and hormone treatments. These procedures are not based on science, threaten the safety of minors, and have irreversible life-long consequences on children’s health. This is why other countries have moved to restrict such treatments, citing a lack of medical evidence and considerable long-term risks, and have called for the kind of protections contained in SB 150,” Cameron said. “I will always fight the radical idea that risky drugs and life-altering surgical mutilations should be tools to put confused children on an inevitable path toward a life of gender dysphoria. There is nothing “affirming” about this dangerous approach to mental health, and my office will continue to do everything in our power to defend this law passed by our elected representatives.”
The Republican Party of Kentucky also released a statement showing they are clearly not in favor of Hale granting the injunction.
“There are two candidates for Governor,” RPK spokesman and Cameron campaign surrogate Sean Southard said, “Here’s what they believe, Andy Beshear believes kids as young as eight and nine years old should have access to sex change surgery and chemicals. Daniel Cameron does not. Radical gender ideology has its candidate in this race and it’s not Daniel Cameron. It’s Andy Beshear.”
Beshear had tried to veto SB150 but was overridden by the general assembly at the time.
Hale reportedly wrote in his order granting the injunction that there is a strong likelihood of success for the constitutional challenges.
