A Supreme Court judge has reserved his decision on a legal challenge against Queensland’s refusal to provide trans youth healthcare.
Supreme Court Justice Peter Callaghan reserved his judgement in the case brought by the mother of a trans teen who was denied puberty blockers as a result of the government’s decision.
The Australian state chose to restrict puberty blocker prescriptions for trans youth in January as part of a review into the hormone suppressants.
There is no explicit evidence that suggests puberty blockers, which halt unwanted physical changes by suppressing sex hormones, are harmful. Conversely, studies suggest they are “life-saving” for trans youth.
The mother at the centre of the Supreme Court case challenged Queensland’s decision on behalf of her teenage trans child, arguing the decision was an “improper exercise of power.”
The court heard that the state health department only informed Queensland’s top public hospital chiefs about the restriction as it was being announced.
Health director-general, David Rosengren, reportedly informed hospital officials at a 10am meeting on 28 January, the same time that health minister Tim Nicholls made the announcement.
Hospital executives had not even seen a draft of the directive before being advised, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Justice Callaghan said he aims to “strain every nerve” to hand his decision down by the end of next week.
The mother who brought the case earlier this year said the denial of healthcare provision for her child had been “shattering.”
“This is the most intimate and private matter for my family and yet these politicians, who have never even seen or spoken to my child, are telling me how to be her mum,” she continued.
“How can they possibly make such a personal decision about the private medical care of a child they have never met and whose experience of growing up is so different to their own?”
LGBTI Legal Service solicitor Matilda Alexander, representing the mother, said in May the Queensland government’s decision “undermines the rights and responsibilities of parents, and denies children safe and effective medical care which is accessible in every other state and territory.”
Activists show support for mother in legal case
Crowds of activists stood outside the Supreme Court building in Brisbane, Queensland, during an early Wednesday (22 October) demonstration against the government’s suspension of gender-affirming care provision for trans under-18s.
In an effort to show support for the mother’s case, Magandjin People’s Pride, a grassroots LGBTQ+ advocacy group, organised a peaceful protest to stand “in solidarity” with the parent.
A spokesperson for the group, Piper Valkyrie, told the Star Observer that Nicholls was “playing with kids’ lives” by imposing the ban, which they described as a “devastating and discriminatory act of government overreach.”
“491 kids who have been waiting for treatment for months, or even years, suddenly [lost] access to that, and for trans youth, that can be so devastating when rates of self harm and suicide are high.”
The group accused the government of announcing the move “without any scientific or evidence based backing, on a claim that still hasn’t been authenticated at all.”
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