Judge blocks Georgia’s inmate hormone therapy ban as appeal moves forward

ATLANTA - A federal judge has permanently blocked Georgia from cutting off hormone therapy for transgender inmates, ruling that the state’s new restrictions violate the U.S. Constitution and must remain suspended while the case moves forward, according to reporting from the Associated Press.

What we know:

U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert, who was appointed to the court by President Joe Biden, ruled last week that Georgia’s ban on using state funds for hormone therapy amounts to cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Her order requires the Department of Corrections to continue providing hormones to inmates who were already receiving treatment and to allow newly diagnosed prisoners to begin therapy when medically necessary.

Calvert had previously issued a preliminary ruling in September. Her final order represents the latest flashpoint in national legal battles over transgender rights and medical care.

The backstory:

The case was brought by transgender inmates represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights after Georgia lawmakers passed a law in May banning the use of state money for hormone therapy, gender-transition surgery or other treatments intended to change sexual characteristics. The law’s sponsor, Sen. Randy Robertson of Cataula, argued it should not fall to taxpayers. "It is not a health care issue that should be the responsibility of the taxpayers," Robertson said.

Prison officials had been preparing to phase out hormone therapy by October. Georgia reported in mid-August that more than 340 inmates in state custody had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and that 107 inmates were receiving hormone therapy as of June 30. The state first began offering hormones in 2016 following a separate lawsuit involving a transgender prisoner.

Calvert rejected the state’s medical testimony and its argument that cutting inmates off hormone therapy did not meet the legal threshold for deliberate indifference. She wrote that promised counseling and monitoring would not replace medically necessary care. "Defendants cannot deny medical care and then defeat an injunction by saying nothing bad has happened yet," she wrote.

State lawyers accused Calvert of sidestepping recent rulings, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors and an 11th Circuit ruling that a Georgia county did not have to cover the cost of gender-transition surgery for a sheriff’s deputy. "It is crystal clear the state legislatures have wide deference to enact laws regulating sex-change procedures like the cross-sex hormonal interventions at issue in this case," the state wrote in November.

The legislation that triggered the lawsuit sparked a fierce fight at the Georgia Capitol earlier this year, including a walkout by most House Democrats during the bill’s final vote. Gov. Brian Kemp signed it into law in May.

What's next:

The attorney general’s office has already filed notice of appeal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican running for governor, pledged to challenge the case "all the way to the Supreme Court," calling the lawsuit "absurd."