Maria Caspani

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – Alabama’s transgender minors are now allowed to use medicine for transition. A federal judge ruled late Friday that they can do so. He made the ruling in part because of a ban in Alabama on state gender affirming therapies.

U.S. District Judge Liles Burke issued the preliminary injunction, which was less than one week after May 8th, when the law took effect.

Burke, an ex-President Donald Trump Republican nominee, stated in higher court rulings that parents are allowed to control the care of their children’s medical needs if they meet acceptable standards. Transgender persons are also protected by federal law against discrimination.

It is now a crime to give or administer hormone therapy to transgender youths under 19 that can lead to up to 10 year imprisonment. Experts say it also bans minors from receiving surgical treatment.

Burke retained the section of the law banning sex-altering surgery and the other provisions prohibiting school officials depriving parents of certain information about their gender identity.

A civil rights group brought this lawsuit for four Alabama families, two doctors and a minister. It argued that the ban would cause “immediate” and “irreparable” damage to plaintiffs, and it violates many of their constitutional rights.

The U.S. Department of Justice is joining the cause, declaring that Alabama’s law does not guarantee equal protection.

Following signing of the law last month, Republican Governor Kay Ivey declared, “I believe strongly that if you were made a boy by the Good Lord, you will be a boy.”

Arkansas had a similar, but less far-reaching law that was stopped by courts in 2013 before it could be put into effect.

“Never has a state law required us to make a decision between possible felonies or abandoning the core tenets in our Hippocratic vow,” Morissa Ldinsky, who is a Birmingham-based physician and witness for plaintiffs, stated in this interview.

Major mental health organizations and professionals agree that transition-related medical treatment saves lives and reduces the chance of suicide among transgender or nonbinary people.

Before the November elections, transgender rights are a hot topic in culture wars. Many bills were introduced in the state legislatures by Republican lawmakers, with most of them aimed at trans teens.

Republicans as well conservative activists support the legislation to protect children’s and parents rights. Democrats and LGBTQ organisations are among the opponents of this legislation. They claim that it would be harmful and unnecessary and have severe consequences for transgender youth.

The Trevor Project surveyed 93% transgender and other nonbinary teens to find out if they are worried about their transgender peers not having access to “gender-affirming” medical care because of state or local laws.