Cheers erupted outside the Supreme Court as the crowd welcomed Chase Strangio to the microphone following his historic arguments before the justices. Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court, told the justices that Tennessee’s law took away “the only treatment that relieved years of suffering for each of the adolescent plaintiffs.”
Strangio, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, represents three transgender youth and their parents who initially challenged the law. He thanked those who braved the frigid Washington, DC, weather to stand up for their rights and the rights of transgender people across the country. Strangio expressed feeling emboldened by their support inside the courtroom.
“Whatever happens we are the defiance,” Strangio said. “We are collectively a refutation of everything they say about us. And our fight for justice did not begin today, it will not end in June – whatever the courts decide.”
