June 23, 2025
The Central Conference of American Rabbis is appalled by the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Skrmetti, empowering state governments to risk the lives of transgender and nonbinary youth by prohibiting their parents and physicians from providing evidence-based gender-affirming medical care.
Puberty blockers and other gender-affirming hormone therapies, preceded and accompanied by psychotherapy, are proven safe and effective in the treatment of gender dysphoria.[i] Notably, transgender youth who receive gender-affirming care show improved mental health and lower risks of suicide than transgender and nonbinary youth from whom that care is withheld.[ii]
Reform rabbis stand opposed to the twin scourges of recent years: the Supreme Court’s increasing willingness to permit state governments to interfere in the doctor-patient relationship with respect to sexual and reproductive health care and the war on transgender and nonbinary Americans waged by powerful politicians.
In the 2022 CCAR Statement on Laws that Endanger Transgender Youth, we recalled, “Our rabbinic tradition recognized a wide variety of genders.[iii] Reform rabbis take seriously the basic tenet of Torah, that all humanity is created בצלם אלהים (b’tzelem Elohim),“in God’s image,” (Genesis 1:27). …We likewise affirm that all human beings are created with gender identities, which for some people do not align with the sex assigned to them at birth.” [iv]
CCAR members and members of the communities we serve have children who receive gender-affirming medical care, and still more will require that treatment in the future. Many live in states that already have adopted prohibitions on gender-affirming care for minors like the Tennessee law that was upheld in Skrmetti. CCAR rabbis stand ready to support one another and members of the communities we serve. We are committed to determining how to help one another and our communities abide by the מצוה (mitzvah), “religious obligation,” ובחרת בחיים (uvacharta bachayim), “choose life,” (Deuteronomy 30:19), so that each of our transgender and nonbinary young people may reach adulthood, true to themselves, healthy, safe, and loved for who they are.
Rabbi David A. Lyon, President
Rabbi Hara E. Person, Chief Executive
Central Conference of American Rabbis
[i] Heather Boerner, “What the Science on Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Kids Really Shows,” Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/what-the-science-on-gender-affirming-care-for-transgender-kids-really-shows/.
[ii] Diana M. Tordoff, et al, “Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming Care, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35212746/.
[iii] See, for example, Mishnah Torah, Marriage, Chapter 2.
[iv] Central Conference of American Rabbis Statement on Laws that Endanger Transgender Youth, May 5, 2022, https://www.ccarnet.org/central-conference-of-american-rabbis-statement-on-laws-that-endanger-transgender-youth/.
CCAR statements are grounded in the history of CCAR resolutions and platforms. We strive to represent the overall voice of the CCAR leadership and the Reform rabbinate on critical issues of the day. The CCAR is a diverse community of rabbis, and we recognize the multiplicity of viewpoints that exist within our membership. We encourage those of differing perspectives to engage in respectful dialogue. It is our hope that these statements provide the Reform community with deeper understanding of important issues that impact our lives as Jews and as global citizens.