On June 18, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion finding that the Tennessee law prohibiting the use of puberty blockers or hormones to treat minors who identify as transgender[1] does not violate the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Thus, the prohibition on such treatments being afforded to minors in Tennessee – and presumably other states that have curtailed or prohibited certain gender dysphoria treatments for minors – is Constitutional and can be enforced. The vote was 6-3, with the decision split along ideological lines of the liberal and conservative justices. This decision leaves each state to make its own determination regarding the provision of gender dysphoria treatment to minors. It continues to be the case in New York that withholding the availability of services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, could be considered discriminatory under New York law.

The decision does not impact the preliminary injunction in place with respect to PFLAG v. Trump discussed in our previous alert, which is currently working its way through the court system. This litigation is focused on Section 3(e) of Executive Order 14168 and Section 4 of Executive Order 14187, which, if not subject to the preliminary injunction, would withhold or terminate federal funding, including educational and research grants, to health care providers engaged in providing gender affirming care to minors.

[1] The Tennessee law also precludes surgical interventions on minors for the purpose of treating gender dysphoria, but that portion of the law was challenged in the lawsuit decided by the United States Supreme Court.