Georgia officials appeal ruling that blocked ban on gender-affirming care in state prisons 

A federal judge has struck down Georgia’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in state custody, but the state is appealing the decision. Judge Victoria M. Calvert’s decision, which was issued last week, means that the approximately 340 people with gender dysphoria diagnoses in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections can receive […]

Transgender people incarcerated in Georgia prisons can once again receive gender-affirming care, at least temporarily, following a judge's order. Getty Images

A federal judge has struck down Georgia’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in state custody, but the state is appealing the decision.

Judge Victoria M. Calvert’s decision, which was issued last week, means that the approximately 340 people with gender dysphoria diagnoses in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections can receive treatments like hormone therapy if their doctors deem it necessary. The case was brought by five transgender people in state custody.

Senate Bill 185, which was passed during the 2025 legislative session received Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature and went into effect in May after sparking controversy in both chambers during this year’s legislative session.

In the Senate, three Democrats crossed party lines to support the measure along with all Republicans, while four other Democratic senators did not vote.

Nearly all House Democrats took part in a walkout over the bill, characterizing it as a waste of time and part of what they called a fixation on a vulnerable minority. Three Democrats voted for the bill, while two others stayed in the chamber and voted against it.

Calvert’s ruling makes a temporary block on the bill she signed in September permanent.

The law called on doctors to monitor patients already receiving the treatments and taper the drugs gradually, and to provide counseling. Based on testimony, Calvert said that was “an inadequate blanket substitute for hormone therapy.” She said there is “no genuine dispute” that gender dysphoria is a serious medical need and that removing the option for doctors to treat it with hormone therapy without a medical reason violates the law.

“The Court does not hold that the Constitution requires all inmates receive hormone therapy if they want it,” she wrote. “Rather, the Court requires healthcare decisions for prisoners to be made dispassionately, by physicians, based on individual determinations of medical need, and for reasons beyond the fact that the prisoners are prisoners.”

Attorney General Chris Carr’s office appealed the ruling Monday. Carr said in a statement that his office is willing to fight the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Carr, a Republican, is running to be Georgia’s next governor.

The bill’s author, Cataula Republican Sen. Randy Robertson, said he’s not discouraged by the ruling.

“We planned this all along. We knew exactly how this was going to go, they were going to find a friendly judge, and Judge Calvert very much is that,” Robertson said of the Biden-nominated judge. ”

Robertson argued that Georgia taxpayers should not be on the hook for treatments he called not medically necessary, and he expressed confidence that his bill will be vindicated as it winds through the courts.

“I stand with Attorney General Carr in the belief that, at the end of the day, this will be in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and it will quickly be upheld, the law will be established as constitutional and right, and we will be moving on to things that are more important in Georgia,” he added.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors, though that case deals with different aspects of the law than medical treatment for incarcerated people.

For now, transgender rights advocates are celebrating the ruling as a win.

Human Rights Campaign’s Georgia Director Bentley Hudgins said HRC and other groups mobilized thousands to oppose the bill as unconstitutional and a waste of money.

“It will bring more financial burdens to the State of Georgia and take valuable time away from solving actual issues,” Hudgins said. “Over $4.1 million has already been paid to settle cases like these. The House Democrats walked out on this bill because they saw it for what it was – undignified, expensive discrimination. It is my hope that when we return to the Gold Dome in January that our colleagues of all parties focus on bringing solutions to keep the hungry fed, expand access to health care and address the ever-rising cost of living.”

On the first day of his second term in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting federal recognition of transgender rights across various fields, including within prisons. The order prevents transgender women from being housed in women’s detention facilities and stops federal funds from being used for gender-affirming treatments.

Those rulings are being challenged in multiple court cases.