California bill creates legal sanctuary for Trans youth
The California State Assembly has advanced a bill to the Senate that would provide legal refuge to Trans families from other states. Namely, it would protect parents who risk having their Trans children taken away or being criminally prosecuted for supporting their children's access to gender-affirming care. The bill was approved without debate, 48-16.

Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener pushed the measure as a response to the string of anti-Trans laws in Republican-dominated states, and said 19 other states have since introduced "Trans refuge state" bills.

"Trans kids and their parents are being criminalized and used as political punching bags by right-wing zealots," he stated. "No one should ever have to worry about being separated from their child simply for allowing that child to be who they are."

The bill would also block out-of-state subpoenas for medical information about people who travel to California for gender-affirming care.

The president of the conservative nonprofit Pacific Justice Institute, Brad Dacus, said it would allow parents to bring their children to California "under the guise of securing genital surgeries," which he equated to "kidnapping children from conservative states."

Tami Martin, legislative director at Equality California, said, "We will not allow other states to hunt our community within California's borders."

Federal court blocks Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care
A panel of three judges in the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a judge's ruling that temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing a ban on Trans children receiving gender-affirming medical care. A trial to decide on a permanent block is scheduled for October.

"Because the minor's sex at birth determines whether or not the minor can receive certain types of medical care under the law," the court's ruling said, "Act 626 discriminates on the basis of sex."

The American Civil Liberties Union challenged Arkansas's ban on behalf of four Trans youth, the youths' families, and two doctors who provide gender-affirming care.

Chase Strangio, deputy director for Transgender justice at the ACLU, reaffirmed the court's decision. "The 8th Circuit was abundantly clear that the state's ban on care does not advance any important governmental interest and the state's defense of the law is lacking in legal or evidentiary support," he said. "The state has no business categorically singling out this care for prohibition."

Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutlidge will ask the court to review the ruling, said spokeswoman Amanda Priest. She added that Rutledge was "extremely disappointed in today's dangerously wrong decision."