Law & Principles, Culture & the Family

Oklahoma wins court fight to protect minors from gender-transition procedures

August 11, 2025

Ray Carter

Aligning with a recent decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has upheld an Oklahoma law that bans the performance of sex-change surgeries on minors or the provision of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to children as a treatment for gender dysphoria.

“We recognize the importance of this issue to all involved,” the Tenth Circuit opinion stated. “But this remains a novel issue with disagreement on how to assure children’s health and welfare. We will not usurp the legislature’s judgment when it engages in ‘earnest and profound debate about the morality, legality, and practicality’ of gender transition procedures for minors.”

State Sen. Julie Daniels, a Bartlesville Republican who authored the Oklahoma law, welcomed the court’s decision.

“This law protects children from making life-changing, medical decisions until they reach some level of maturity and can better understand the risks to their long-term health,” Daniels said. “The mental health challenges of gender dysphoria are very real. These young people and their families deserve to have attention focused on behavioral and mental health care, not rushing them into making adult decisions as a child.”

In 2023, Oklahoma state lawmakers passed and Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law Senate Bill 613, which states, “A health care provider shall not knowingly provide gender transition procedures to any child.”

The Oklahoma law defines “gender transition procedures” to include surgical procedures that alter or remove physical or anatomical characteristics or features that are typical for the individual’s biological sex, or the provision of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones. The restrictions apply to patients younger than 18.

The American Civil Liberties Union and likeminded groups sued, seeking to have the law overturned.

The plaintiffs in Peter Poe v. Gentner Drummond included five youth who claim to be transgender, their parents/guardians, and one doctor.

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) joined with Do No Harm, a group of medical professionals, to defend SB 613 in an amici curiae brief filed in the case.

The Northern District of Oklahoma upheld SB 613 in October 2023, finding that the plaintiffs “failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of each of their constitutional claims.” The Tenth Circuit then abated the plaintiffs’ appeal in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision concerning a similar Tennessee law (Senate Bill 1) in United States v. Skrmetti.

In its United States v. Skrmetti decision, issued in June, the U.S. Supreme Court opinion held that the Tennessee law “is not subject to heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and satisfies rational basis review.”

“Tennessee determined that administering puberty blockers or hormones to minors to treat gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, or gender incongruence carries risks, including irreversible sterility, increased risk of disease and illness, and adverse psychological consequences,” the U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion stated. “The legislature found that minors lack the maturity to fully understand these consequences, that many individuals have expressed regret for undergoing such treatments as minors, and that the full effects of such treatments may not yet be known. At the same time, the State noted evidence that discordance between sex and gender can be resolved through less invasive approaches. SB1’s age- and diagnosis-based classifications are rationally related to these findings and the State’s objective of protecting minors’ health and welfare.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Skrmetti decision was repeatedly cited by the Tenth Circuit in its decision regarding Oklahoma’s law.

The Tenth Circuit said that “a minor’s ability to receive medical treatment under SB 613 does not turn on the minor’s transgender status—it turns on the minor’s medical diagnosis. We thus conclude that SB 613’s prohibitions do not discriminate on the basis of transgender status.”

The court declared that the Oklahoma law was not enacted based on discriminatory intent.

“We conclude that Oklahoma’s enactment of SB 613 rationally relates to Oklahoma’s interest in safeguarding the physical and psychological well-being of minors in light of the debate among medical experts about the risks and benefits associated with treating a minor’s gender dysphoria with gender transitioning procedures,” the Tenth Circuit decision stated.

Oklahoma is one of more than 20 states that have enacted laws banning the performance of sex-transition efforts on minors.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma, and Lambda Legal decried the Tenth Circuit’s ruling in a joint statement, calling the decision “a devastating outcome for transgender youth and their families across Oklahoma and another tragic result of the Supreme Court’s errant and harmful ruling in Skrmetti.”

The three groups claimed Oklahoma law puts “political dogma above parents, their children, and their family doctors.”

But most state officials celebrated the ruling.

“This isn’t controversial. We shouldn’t be performing gender transition procedures on kids,” said Gov. Kevin Stitt. “My administration led the charge, and now the federal courts agree.” 

Former House Speaker Charles McCall, an Atoka Republican who led that chamber when SB 613 passed, also praised the decision.

“As Speaker, I fought and delivered on protecting our children by passing SB 613 because keeping Oklahoma children safe will always come first,” McCall said. “Yesterday’s appeals court decision is proof that our conservative stand matters. We stopped dangerous, irreversible procedures on minors and upheld common-sense values.”

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond also praised the decision.

“Thanks to this critical victory, our children will no longer be subjected to the lifelong consequences of these damaging procedures,” Drummond said.