On June 18, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued a 6-3 ruling in United States v. Skrmetti, upholding Tennessee’s 2023 ban on gender affirming care for trans minors, with three justices (Alito, Thomas, and Coney Barrett) writing additional concurring opinions.
As explained by journalist Erin Reed, who specializes in covering trans legislation in the United States, the decision avoids constitutional questions such as whether laws targeting trans people violate equal protection and whether trans people constitute a vulnerable class warranting higher legal scrutiny. Despite Tennessee’s law framing the ban in terms of sex classification, the SCOTUS ruling argues that this is not a sex discrimination case, and that all children are equally banned from receiving medical treatment for gender dysphoria.
This argument ignores the fact that the Tennessee law specifically defines gender dysphoria as being a condition unique to trans people and places cis people with secondary sex characteristics atypical for their gender in a separate category of having “congenital defects.” The law allows cis youth to receive the same medical treatments that trans youth are banned from receiving, with the explicit purpose of banning trans youth from accessing medical transition. This is plainly discrimination against trans youth, and the decision could open the legal door for adult gender affirming care bans as well.
This decision is the most recent update in a years-long legislative assault against trans rights, which began in earnest in 2019, when a nationwide network of right-wing activists exposed by Elisa Rae Shupe began pushing anti-trans bills in many state legislatures. Past efforts (such as North Carolina’s 2016 “Bathroom Bill”) had failed after meeting widespread public backlash, but political tides shifted during the first Trump administration, and now 115 anti-trans bills have been passed in 2025 alone, with over 900 being introduced across 49 states. The wave of new laws is part of a larger legal, cultural, and propaganda war to prevent people from transitioning, make it as difficult as possible for trans people to participate in public life, and make them even more vulnerable to violence and repression from both individuals and institutions. Republican politicians themselves are admitting that banning care for youth is a step toward the ultimate “endgame” of banning gender affirming care for everyone.
These bills are being challenged in court, with mixed results. For instance, on the same day SCOTUS issued its ruling, a District Court judge ruled that the Trump administration’s ban on gender marker changes on U.S. passports was unconstitutional and that all trans people — not just the plaintiffs — are entitled to correct passports. While it’s possible some trans people will be able to receive correct passports for a time, the ruling will undoubtedly be challenged and sent to the same Supreme Court that is ruling in favor of anti-trans discrimination. The State Department has not yet indicated if and how it will comply with the District Court ruling.
This legal environment demonstrates the limits of a judicial strategy for fighting discrimination; the appeals process is extremely lengthy (e.g., it took two years for SCOTUS to rule on the Tennessee bill) and places human rights in the hands of judges who may or may not rule in support of those rights. Placing hopes for LGBTQ+ justice in the legal process is unlikely to succeed in the current rightwing political environment, and it’s also a thoroughly demobilizing strategy: the course of action for oppressed people is to sit tight and let the lawyers handle it. While we did see some mobilizations in February in opposition to the Trump administration’s threat to withhold federal funds from hospitals providing gender affirming care for trans youth and several school districts refused to comply with the administration’s order to discriminate against LGBTQ+ youth in schools, the LGBTQ+ community and its allies must go much further.
June is Pride Month, and in addition to recognizing the historical importance of the Stonewall Riots and direct action organizations like ACT-UP, it’s vital for the community to take inspiration from those periods of LGBTQ+ history and apply those lessons to the present. Furthermore, socialists of all genders and sexualities must stand up and fight against LGBTQ+ discrimination and for the bodily autonomy of all people as part of the collective project of working class liberation.
This means using working-class methods, taking the fight for trans rights to where we have the most power: our workplaces, schools, and the streets. We need to be prepared to strike for trans rights, to mobilize against anti-trans laws in schools and in medical facilities, and to fight to ensure that all trans people get the healthcare they need.
Crucially, the working class and oppressed must wage this fight independently of the Democrats. After all, the Democratic Party has not only repeatedly backed away from trans issues — in some cases, it has even aided Trump and the Far Right’s transphobic agenda.
To win trans rights, we can’t rely on the courts or on bourgeois politicians — we need a mass, working-class movement.
