By Lilian Tweten
Judge Sarah E. Geraghty, a justice for the Northern District of Georgia, blocked part of a law Sunday that prevents minors from receiving sex change hormones.
Geraghty, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, blocked the section of S.B. 140 that prevents minors from receiving hormone replacement treatment, allowing the section banning sex-change surgeries to stand, according to the order. She released the injunction in response to a lawsuit filed against the Georgia bill in July 2023 after hearing arguments in court starting on Aug. 11, according to WABE. (RELATED: ‘We Were Wrong’: Pioneer In Child Gender Dysphoria Treatment Says Trans Medical Industry Is Harming Kids)
After Georgia passed a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, the SPLC and its partners filed a federal lawsuit to block the law from taking effect.
Trans youth in Georgia and everywhere deserve to thrive with access to appropriate medical care. pic.twitter.com/5kN3TG9sQz
— Southern Poverty Law Center (@splcenter) August 9, 2023
“[B]anning hormone replacement therapy effectively forecloses the availability of the course of treatment more generally. In short, the law remains a broad ban on hormone therapy for adolescents with gender dysphoria who have not yet begun such treatment,” Judge Geraghty said, according to 11Alive.
Plaintiffs argued that S.B. 140 prevents parents from making essential medical decisions for their children and violates the 14th Amendment, according to a statement released by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Geraghty agreed with this argument and said that the bill is “substantially likely to violate the Equal Protection Clause,” 11Alive reported.
Geraghty rejected Georgia’s argument that only the individuals participating in the lawsuit should receive an exception from the ban while the case works its way through the judicial system, according to 11Alive. She also rejected the state’s argument that S.B.140 should not be halted because of a recent Sixth Circuit decision allowing a similar law to stand in Tennessee while the bill is contested in court.
