FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ATLANTA, GA (August 21, 2023) – On Sunday night, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction halting provisions of Senate Bill 140, Georgia’s restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, from taking effect while a legal case challenging the legislation proceeds.
“The federal Judge confirms what so many families and transgender youth have been saying all along: that bans against healthcare are harmful, dangerous, discriminatory, and illegal,” said Georgia Equality’s executive director Jeff Graham. “It is our hope that this loss, and its echoes all over the country, along with overwhelming public opposition, will discourage any further legislative action targeting trans folks when the General Assembly convenes again in January.”
On June 29, 2023, four Georgia families filed a lawsuit against S.B. 140, represented by our partners at the ACLU of Georgia, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
Judge Sarah E. Geraghty found that the Plaintiff’s had a “substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their equal protection claim [in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment],” indicating that S.B. 140 could later be permanently struck down by the court.
The decision from the court makes Georgia the seventh instance of this law or a similar law attempting to impede access to healthcare for trans young people being struck down in federal district court, following Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida.
“Georgia Equality is grateful to the families and transgender young people for bravely seeking justice, and to our partners at the ACLU of Georgia, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for their work on this important case,” said executive director Jeff Graham.
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Founded in 1995, Georgia Equality is the state’s largest advocacy organization working to advance fairness, safety, and opportunity for Georgia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and allied communities.