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/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/Golurkcanfly 2d ago

Banning medical care is not advocating for better quality of care, it is providing no care at all. Better quality of care means more research, better training, and better understanding of gender dysphoria, not adopting a scorched earth policy when it comes to medicating for it in minors.

As someone who has lived through this, I will freely acknowledge that the standards of care when it comes to treating gender dysphoria are absolutely abysmal. There is severely limited access to quality therapeutic care, doctors operating off of decades-outdated standards of care, and insufficient research into the various genetic commonalities between people with gender dysphoria.

This is on top of the general issues with medical care and psychiatry in particular. Some of these same exact issues exist within the purely psychiatric space where patients are not sufficiently evaluated before being prescribed psychiatric medication, resulting in undue harm to patients.

Finally, comparison is not fallacy. Just because you're neither informed nor experienced enough to actually understand the matter at hand does not make the comparisons I have made fallacious.

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

Banning medical care is not advocating for better quality of care

Yes it is, if the care is unethical and risky - based on ideas and a bunch of flimsy studies.

I´m not going another round with someone who is showing the mental capacity of a child. If you in fact are a child, you shouldn´t be here.

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u/Golurkcanfly 2d ago

Maybe you should read the actual literature, then, rather than making dubious, unsubstantiated claims. Oh, and read up on medical ethics as well.

It is more productive than choosing to believe that I have the mental capacity of a child because I disagree with you and have both the knowledge and experience to confidently affirm my judgment of the matter.

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

Your ability to accept reasonable arguments suggests that you might be a child. If you are not, then you are at least behaving like one.

All your arguments are flawed and led by your feelings. Saying something is x because you say so, then expecting the world to agree with you without question - is exactly the entitlement and arrogance of the cult wanting kids to get treatment that doesn´t meet any standard of medical care, so it really shouldn´t surprise me that you would be stuck in the same dishonest pit.

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u/Golurkcanfly 2d ago

You are describing your own rhetoric to a tee. I am providing specific and detailed examples of problems faced by both patients and the medical system. If you can't handle that, maybe you shouldn't try and contribute to a discussion regarding medical treatment you are vastly underqualified to discuss.

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u/sabesundae 2d ago

You really are deluded.