“What we are practicing here is not voodoo,” said Katherine Mistretta, a family nurse practitioner who is one of the plaintiffs in the Montana lawsuit. “I think our justice system will see that there’s enough science to support this, that they will understand that this is appropriate care.”

A state district court judge in Missoula has blocked Montana’s ban on medical care for minors with gender dysphoria from taking effect while a lawsuit over its constitutionality continues, finding that the new law appears to have “no rational relationship to protecting children.”

“We are so thankful for this opportunity to protect trans youth, their families, and their medical providers from this baseless and dangerous law,” Malita Picasso, the ACLU staff attorney who presented the plaintiffs’ case at the Sept. 17 court hearing, said. “While this fight is not over, every day that transgender Montanans are able to access this care is a critical and life-saving victory. We will never stop opposing this ban and all others like it until every transgender person has the care and support they need to thrive.”

Although Judge Jason Marks said his findings are “not binding at trial,” he found SB 99 likely discriminates based on a person’s status as transgender and also found it likely tramples on the right to privacy guaranteed in the Montana Constitution.

“We’re not just talking about numbers or statistics, Your Honor, we’re talking about real people who are suffering real harms, and those people include people who are sitting in this room today,” said Malita Picasso, a staff attorney with the national ACLU.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs have argued that SB 99 bans “a wide range of medical treatments and procedures when, and only when, they are provided to transgender youth for the purpose of treating gender dysphoria.” In doing so, attorneys say, the law violates myriad constitutional rights, including equal protection under the law, privacy, dignity, parental autonomy and the right to seek health.

In some states, new laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth are dissuading health care providers from offering mental health services and other medical care that isn’t explicitly banned by those laws.

“When our Republican colleagues allege that gender-affirming care raises particular dangers or due process issues, that is fearmongering at its worst,” the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, said. “Picking on already vulnerable kids in order to stir up chaos that they hope to ride to success at the ballot box.”