Chase Strangio, the transgender ACLU attorney arguing before the Supreme Court to challenge Tennessee’s SB1, stirred controversy during a CNN appearance on Wednesday by claiming that children as young as two years old can know they are transgender. Tennessee’s SB1 law bans puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change surgeries for minors, a move the ACLU claims violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
Strangio, a biological woman identifying as a man, described the case as pivotal for transgender rights nationwide. Speaking to CNN host Jake Tapper, Strangio framed the legislation as discriminatory, stating it “bans medical treatment only when it is prescribed inconsistent with an individual’s sex.”
When asked by Tapper about concerns from physicians regarding the lack of long-term data on providing such treatments to minors, Strangio insisted there is sufficient clinical evidence to support these interventions. “We have decades of both clinical experience and research data showing that this is medical treatment that provides critical benefits to adolescents who need it,” Strangio said. The lawyer added that the decision to pursue these treatments lies with parents and supportive doctors, not the minors themselves.
Strangio further claimed that many children have a strong sense of their gender identity at a very young age, sometimes as early as two years old. “These are young people who may have known since they were two years old exactly who they are, who suffered for six, seven years before they had any relief,” Strangio argued, emphasizing parental consent as central to these medical decisions. “As a parent, I would say we — when our children are suffering, we are suffering.”
The case against Tennessee’s SB1 has become a flashpoint in the national debate over transgender rights, parental authority, and the medicalization of minors. Critics argue that the long-term consequences of these treatments are insufficiently understood and may pose irreversible harm to developing children. Proponents, including Strangio, contend that denying these interventions exacerbates suffering and puts vulnerable youths at higher risk of mental health crises.
As the Supreme Court weighs the legal arguments, the case is expected to have far-reaching implications for state-level bans and the broader conversation around medical care for transgender minors.
