By a 2-1 vote, the Cincinnati, Ohio-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge by families of transgender children who had argued that the bans discriminated on the basis of sex.
Mainstream U.S. medical associations say gender-affirming care is appropriate and potentially life-saving treatment for gender dysphoria, or distress caused by the mismatch between transgender people's sex assigned at birth and their gender identity. "This is a relatively new diagnosis with ever-shifting approaches to care over the last decade or two. Under these circumstances, it is difficult for anyone to be sure about predicting the long-term consequences of abandoning age limits of any sort for these treatments," wrote Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, who was joined by Judge Amul Thapar.