A transgender lawyer will challenge at the Supreme Court a state law banning medical treatment for transgender youth.

Chase Strangio, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, is representing a doctor and three transgender minors challenging Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers, therapies and surgeries for trans youth.

He will be the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the high court, according to media reports. 

The case is U.S. v. Skrmetti, to be heard Dec. 4.

Mr. Strangio has been with the American Civil Liberties Union since 2013 and has worked on major LGBTQ rights cases before the high court in the past, including the landmark 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage and the 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County that extended workplace protection for gay workers under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“There is no attorney in the country better suited for this landmark moment in LGBTQ history than Chase Strangio,” said James Esseks, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.

The Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union oppose Tennessee’s ban on treatment for minors.

The ACLU said courts have rejected such prohibitions on medical treatment for transgender youths in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana and Kentucky. 

But the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals let Tennessee’s ban take effect.

The Tennessee case was brought by three transgender minors, their parents and a doctor who had 16 transgender youths as patients challenging the ban.

A ruling from the justices on the legal battle is expected by the end of June.

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.