Who are the teens at the center of the legal fight over Alabamas law banning transgender treatment? – AL.com

Parents of four teens suing Alabama over its ban on treatment for transgender minors say the new law will drastically change their kids lives, taking them from happy teenagers back to their lives of depression and confusion they faced before starting treatment and leaving them a shell of themselves.

At least two federal lawsuits have been filed since Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a law last week making it a crime for transgender minors to receive gender-affirming medical treatment. The new law goes into effect May 8.

The standard of care for gender dysphoriathe clinical diagnosis for when a persons gender identity doesnt match their birth sextypically includes treatments like puberty-blocking medication, hormone-replacement therapy, and surgical treatment. Doctors and experts say no gender-affirming surgeries are performed on transgender minors in the state of Alabama.

One lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Alabama by the families of two transgender teens and two Childrens of Alabama and University of Alabama at Birmingham doctors. The other suit was filed in the Middle District of Alabama by two different families of trans teens.

Teens in the first federal suit, filed in Birmingham, are identified under the pseudonyms Mary Roe and John Doe. The second lawsuit, filed in Montgomery, lists the plaintiffs as teenagers identified by their initials, H.W. and C.W.

These are not random kids. These are kids in your communities who will suffer tremendously, said Asaf Orr, an attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is one of the groups representing the parents and their children.

A spokesperson for the governors office said, We are prepared to defend our Alabama values and this legislation. The Alabama Attorney Generals Office did not respond to requests for comment.

Heres what we know about the teenagers who are fighting Alabamas new law based on the lawsuits:

Mary Roe

Mary, 13, is a transgender girl in Jefferson County. She started showing symptoms of gender dysphoria from a young age and began to tell her family that she was a girl starting around age 6. After seeking therapy and advice from medical professionals, Mary started to dress like a girl and her mental health greatly improved.

Following issues at school the next year with her new gender identity, Marys parents enrolled her in a new school, where Mary was allowed to dress like a girl and go by her new name. Since Marys transfer to the new school, she has returned to being the happy, active child she was during the summer prior to first grade, the lawsuit suit states.

In early 2021, Marys pediatrician evaluated her for puberty blockers. She began taking the medicine in April 2021 and has been taking it since.

It is essential for Marys mental health that she continues to receive puberty-blocking medications every three months and is able to obtain any future medical treatments that her healthcare providers determine are medically necessary to treat her gender dysphoria, her lawsuit states. For Mary to be forced to go through male puberty would be devastating; it would predictably result in her experiencing isolation, depression, anxiety, and distress. Marys parents are also concerned that without access to the puberty-blocking medication she needs, Mary would resort to self-harm as a means of coping with her psychological distress or even attempt suicide.

If the law goes into effect on May 8, Mary will have to stop her medication.

Without access to puberty-blocking medication, Marys body will produce testosterone, and she will begin to develop secondary sex characteristics associated with males. The changes to Marys bodysome of which would be permanent or would require surgery to reversewould make visible to others that she is a transgender girl and would cause her to experience again the distress she experiences from having a body seen by others as inconsistent with her female identity.

John Doe

John, a 17-year-old in Shelby County, also began showing symptoms of gender dysphoria at a young age. While his parents thought the behavior was a phase, they were accepting. He began to see a therapist when he was about 8. While it helped at first, the suit said Johns mental health declined when he started puberty.

He quickly developed large breasts, which was very distressing for John. He would often cry in the shower because of the shape of his chest, wear multiple sports bras at a time, and slouch his shoulders to make the appearance of his chest less prominent, the lawsuit said. Getting his period was equally distressing for John. Johns dysphoria was so severe that he stayed home from school for at least one day each month.

When John was in high school, he told his parents he was transgender. With the help of his parents, John connected with mental health and medical providers at UAB. He started medication to stop his period and, about a year later, he started testosterone treatments.

Starting testosterone has been amazing for John, his lawsuit states. He finally is feeling more like himself, building greater confidence, and is happier overall. Over the past year and a half, Johns voice has dropped, and he has developed facial hair. Those features have allowed him to feel more comfortable in his body and eased his anxieties about not being treated as a male by others.

John will also be forced to stop his medications if the law goes into effect, leading to what the legal team calls devastating physical and psychological consequences.

The stories of Roe and Does experiences are the norm for transgender minors, Orr said, and the new law means parents cant be in charge of their childs medical decisions.

That should be frightening to people who identify as political conservatives, he said.

H.W.

A transgender 15-year-old, H.W., came out to her parents as trans at 10. She began her social transition soon after and legally changed her name and altered her clothing and appearance. Those changes were very helpful to H. W., but she remained terrified about what would happen when she started puberty, as she could not imagine having a body like a teenage boy, the lawsuit states.

At the recommendation of her multiple doctors and after evaluations, H.W. started puberty-suppressing medicine at 12. The treatment has prevented H. W. from having to undergo a puberty that would cause changes in her body- some irreversible- that would severely exacerbate her gender dysphoria. By allowing H. W. to pause puberty and not experience the physical changes that terrified her, puberty-suppressing medication has significantly improved H.W. s health, according to the lawsuit.

She is also set to begin hormone therapy in the fall.

Growing up in a body that did not match who she was made H.W. miserable, lawyers said in the suit. Accessing medical care has been transformative for H.W. She became less shy and more confident and began thriving in school.

Without H.W. s puberty-suppressing medication, she would be forced to undergo a typical male puberty, which would cause her to develop a deep voice, a typically masculine jawline, an Adams apple, hair growth on her body, and a broadening of her shoulders. The changes are potentially irreversible, the suit said, and would cause H.W. to not feel like herself anymore, and cause her to likely be bullied.

H.W.s family would have to leave Alabama if the law goes into effect, the suit said, leaving her parents without work and splitting her apart from her siblings.

C.W.

C.W., 13, is a transgender girl who first told her parents about her severe stress and anxiety at 9, and soon after came out as trans. After sharing her new pronouns and name with those around her, the lawsuit said, C.W.s outlook, demeanor, and overall well-being immediately improved.

When she was in fourth grade in 2018 and asked people at school to call her by her new name, there were incidents of bullying and harassment, which lasted several years. In 2019, her parents legally changed her name and submitted the legal name change to the school.

At 11, C.W. consulted with a team of doctors and was diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Later that year, she started puberty suppressing medication. According to the lawsuit, the medicine has made an incredible difference in C.W.s life. She, too, would suffer possibly irreversible changes to her body if she stopped the medications.

C.W. s parents are concerned that without her medical treatment, C.W. s confident self would fade away, the suit said, adding her family would consider moving out of Alabama and leaving behind their families, support networks and jobs.

Claims

Both lawsuits say the teens are being denied medical treatments and taking the decision out of the hands of doctors and parents.

The (law) abandons science and seeks to stop safe, effective, and medically necessary treatments for children with gender dysphoria in Alabama without any rational basis, the Doe and Roe lawsuit states. The law also ignores established medical science.

Doctors and parents of transgender minors are forced to choose between withholding medically necessary treatment from their minor transgender patients or children, on the one hand, or facing criminal prosecution, on the other, that lawsuit adds.

Orr and lawsuits also point out the treatments themselves are not bannedif another minor needed puberty blockers or hormone therapy for issues that were not related to gender dysphoria or being transgender, they could receive them. Orr said thats a clear discrimination based on sex.

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Who are the teens at the center of the legal fight over Alabamas law banning transgender treatment? - AL.com