The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to decide whether states may ban transgender students from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity, revisiting the issue of LGBTQ rights in a blockbuster case just days after upholding a ban on some health care for trans youth.
The decision puts the issue of transgender rights on the Supreme Court’s docket for the second year in a row and is by far the most significant matter the justices have agreed to hear in the term that will begin in October.
In a significant loss for transgender advocates, a 6-3 majority of the Supreme Court ruled on June 18 that Tennessee could bar trans youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Though the state’s law also bars surgeries, they were not at issue in the high court’s case.
The court is likely to decide the case by early next summer.