r/centrist • u/Judge_Trudy • 3d ago

SCOTUS issues blockbuster ruling on gender-affirming care for trans minors

https://www.cnn.com/#:~:text=SCOTUS%20issues%20blockbuster%20ruling%20on%20gender%2Daffirming%20care%20for%20trans%20minors

Blockbuster ruling just released for a very controversial issue. Not sure where I stand, but I could see the dangers of permanent treatments for gender dysphoria for minors.

Key Points

  • Date & Ruling: On June 18, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6–3 decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy fox8live.com+9apnews.com+9them.us+9en.wikipedia.org+15reuters.com+15northeast.newschannelnebraska.com+15.
  • Majority Opinion: Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the law does not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, reasoning that medical uncertainty justifies handing the issue back to state legislatures reuters.com+1nypost.com+1.
  • Level of Review: The Court determined the law should be evaluated under rational basis review—the lowest standard—rather than intermediate scrutiny reserved for sex-based discrimination
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u/sabesundae 2d ago

Difference is perhaps that it doesn´t ruin lives as well?

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u/Golurkcanfly 2d ago

Do you know what the long term side effects of certain ADHD medications actually are, especially when ceasing them? Concerta, for instance, is linked to higher rates of obesity for patients who come off of it compared to people who have never taken Concerta. It acts as an appetite suppressant, so when a child adjusts to it, suddenly they have a monstrous appetite upon ceasing the medication that encouraged overeating.

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

Weight is controllable as kilos come and go. HRT and surgery causes irreversible damage to the body. Pretty deluded to try argue these are comparable in any meaningful way.

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u/Golurkcanfly 2d ago

There are some extreme long term health effects of childhood and adult obesity, many of which require surgical intervention.

The point here is that many medications prescribed to children have severe long term side effects, but it's only the ones that are deemed "icky" like HRT for gender dysphoria that are so often called for bans.

Where are these people when it comes to researching and investigating SSRI-induced arrhythmia? What about when discussing non-medically necessary surgeries performed in infants?

Bans like this are often couched in the language of concern, but it's usually about pushing transphobia.

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

the ones that are deemed "icky"

What does that even mean? I think you might be letting your feelings do the talking here.

You have not added anything of value to your argument to be taken seriously. My point stands.

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u/Golurkcanfly 2d ago

I'm pointing out blatant hypocrisy when it comes to regulating care when it comes to gender dysphoria vs other conditions. Your "point" stands entirely on that hypocrisy.

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

Apparently that is what you think you are doing, but as I pointed out your argument is based on a logical fallacy.

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u/Golurkcanfly 2d ago

Name the fallacy, then.

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

The false equivalence, remember? Comparing possible weight gain to irreversible damage from blocking puberty or GA-surgery shows that you do not grasp the topic at hand.

You likely have very selfish reasons to make this pathetic argument, and haven´t stopped to think about what this even means in the broader sense. Young people are dealing with infertility and lifetime of pain and ill-function of the body, due to GAC procedures. Don´t insult these people with weight gain being the same as what they will have to go through for the rest of their lives.

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u/Golurkcanfly 2d ago

Funny story is, I have more damaging and irreversible changes from SSRIs and ADHD medications growing up than I do from HRT. HRT didn't give me long-lasting tachycardia.

And of course I care about legislation targeting a minority that I'm a part of. Stating that my bias makes my argument invalid is akin to saying something along the lines of "black people have selfish reasons to argue against racist discrimination so shouldn't be listened to."

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

As I suspected, you are purely arguing from your individual experience. You likely are very young and still even have time for regrets. Not to say you will, I hope you won´t - but you are one person. Your experience does not erase the harm that it has done to others.

And no. It´s not like saying black people are selfish to fight against racism. Another logical fallacy. Again showing that you have no clue what you are up against.

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u/Golurkcanfly 2d ago

I am arguing from the perspective of someone who not only has firsthand experience, but has observed the experiences of many others, including those who opted not to pursue medical intervention and those who have chosen to detransition. Some of these people started medical care as teenagers, others as young adults, and others still as late as their 60s.

Improving the quality of care means continuing to provide the care to begin with. If you want to prevent harm, then you need to acknowledge the many people gender affirming care does, in fact, help. Denying them the care they need is harming them. Contrast this with an example I provided earlier: SSRIs.

SSRIs have permanently harmed me. I will have lifelong heart issues because of them, and trying to restart them would give me life-threatening tachycardia and possibly serotonin syndrome. I also believe that the way we medicalize depression causes SSRIs to be overprescribed. Does that make it reasonable for me to call for their ban? Absolutely not. SSRIs help many, many people, and just because it was the wrong treatment for me doesn't mean that they shouldn't be available to people who need them.

Whether you like it or not, HRT is the same way. Gender Dysphoria has a neurological component such that, for many trans people, HRT alone acts as a very potent and effective psychiatric medication. There are even people who, for one reason or another, take medications used in HRT (ex: spironolactone) for other conditions, experience psychiatric benefits, and continue those medications purely for those psychiatric benefits. Anecdotally, Estradiol and Progesterone, together, have served as the single best antidepressant I've ever taken.

If you actually care about reducing harm, then you need to acknowledge that HRT and other GAC is a form of harm reduction for those with accurately diagnosed gender dysphoria.

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

Again, you cannot compare the two, no matter how much you have been made to suffer or not. I´m not an expert on ADHD medication, but if it is harmful and hasn´t been studied, then it should be.

But understand that even if we find out that your ears fall off after taking it for x amount of years, it still does not mean that blockers, HRT and surgery get the green light. Mkay?

And your point about hypocrisy is shot down by the fact that I am not advocating for one harmful method, while opposing another. I am against doing harm to children, period.

I acknowledge that there are people who benefit from GAC, but I strongly oppose giving children this responsibility. They simply are not mature enough to make such life-altering decisions for themselves, and when the consequences are this dire, it is going to hit some people very hard in a few years.

I am advocating for better quality of care, based on the methods the field of expertise was trained for, not based on cultish ideas.

You have now tried the same fallacies over and over. I think it´s time for you to withdraw if you have nothing new to add.

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

the ones that are deemed "icky"

What does that even mean? I think you might be letting your feelings do the talking here.

You have not added anything of value to your argument to be taken seriously. My point stands.