Harvard Law School Center Sues Louisiana Over Ban on Medical Care for Trans Youth

The Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation filed a lawsuit against the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners and Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill on Jan. 8 challenging a state ban on providing gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.

Lawyers at the CHLPI, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, and Lambda Legal — a national law firm aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ rights — filed the suit in a state district court on behalf of five transgender Louisiana minors and their families. The suit alleges that the ban, known as Act 466, violates the equal protection of transgender youth in the state.

“By selectively banning treatments for transgender youth, the Act deprives Louisiana transgender adolescents of medically necessary and often life-saving care that has proven to be effective in treating a transgender adolescent’s gender dysphoria and addressing the depression, anxiety, and other serious health conditions that can result from untreated gender dysphoria,” the plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit.

The state’s ban on gender-affirming care comes during a time where gender affirming bans have made their way across the country in more than 23 states.

Kevin Costello, the litigation director for CHLPI, said the suit will provide students in the Health Law & Policy Clinic, a CHLPI subset, with an opportunity to apply legal skills to a real-world instance of injustice.

“The Health Law & Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School is meant to be an opportunity to put those ideas into action,” Costello said. “And for Harvard Law students to begin to understand from a real first hand perspective, what it means to be a health lawyer and what it means to be a lawyer who is seeking justice.”

Costello — who is representing the plaintiffs alongside CHLPI Clinical Fellow Suzanne Davies, Clinical Instructor Maryanne Tomazic, and two HLPC students — said the lawsuit was an important step for transgender youth who feel threatened by the ban.

“Our clients are generally all young kids, and they are all looking at this world in which their state government is taking affirmative steps to try to erase their identity out of existence,” Costello said.

“It’s scary for them,” he added.

Murrill and the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners did not respond to requests for comment.

Though Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry vetoed the bill — which was subject to fiery public debate — in June 2023, the Louisiana state legislature took an “extraordinary step” to override the veto, Costello said. He said the veto override drove him to take on the case, which he called an “important symbol” for transgender youth in Louisiana.

“I think it’s important for them to realize that there are lawyers and advocates and really a whole community down in Louisiana itself that is willing to stand up and fight for them,” he said.