anti trans rally 2

Proud Boys gathered as U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn speaks against transgender health care, Oct. 21, 2022.

The U.S. Department of Justice stepped in Wednesday in an attempt to block a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors. The American Civil Liberties Union and others brought a lawsuit against the state last week on behalf of families with transgender children, including one Nashville family. 

The DOJ is asking the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee to issue an immediate order to prevent the law from going into effect on July 1. The ban violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by “discriminating on the basis of both sex and transgender status,” the department said in a press release.