The biggest case of the term, so far, is being argued this morning and there is anticipation in the chilly Washington air. Demonstrators on each side of United States v. Skrmetti, the dispute over access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender teenagers, have arrived early in front o

Next week, our guest Chase Strangio will make history as the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court. Strangio will argue on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project that Tennessee’s state ban on gender-affirming hormone therapies for transgender children is a form of sex discrimination. “Our hope is that the cultural anxiety about trans people … is not going to sway the justices from applying straightforward constitutional principles,” says Strangio about the case. We also discuss recent cultural backlash against trans rights as part of an “approach to gender that is regressive and dangerous.” The Democratic Party has been unwilling to provide a robust defense to conservative attacks on trans identity, says Strangio, ceding ground to the further loss of the community’s civil rights and protections. Yet even as trans people are “demonized” and blamed for structural problems in the U.S., he adds, “We have always resisted. We have always taken care of each other. No matter what happens, that is what we’ll do.”

The ACLU’s Chase Strangio is representing a group of trans people opposing Tennessee’s Republican-backed law banning gender-affirming medical care for trans minors.