Allen & Overy files brief in support of transgender healthcare rights

A&O partnered with Stonewall UK and numerous other LGBTQ+ rights organizations around the globe to argue that the trial court correctly struck down a statute enacted by the State of Arkansas that would prohibit transgender adolescents from obtaining gender-affirming healthcare and would preclude physicians from providing such care.

A&O worked together with Stonewall UK and LGBTQ+ rights organizations in Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Mexico and Norway to provide the Court with information about the gender-affirming healthcare that is available to adolescents in those countries where medically appropriate, and to show the Court that the Arkansas ban is an outlier. More information about the lawsuit is available here, and our brief is available here.

Andrew Rhys Davies, a New York-based Partner at A&O, said: “A&O is committed to promoting the rights and inclusion of LGBT+ individuals, and is proud to have supported Stonewall UK in its efforts in this case.”

Nancy Kelley, CEO of Stonewall UK, said: “Trans healthcare is a human right, and trans young people deserve access to high-quality and appropriate healthcare. We are proud to submit this amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs on appeal, and to show the global consensus around the importance of access to transition-related healthcare for young people.”

Steven Shuldman, an associate of A&O, who, along with Andrew Rhys Davies and Justin Ormand, authored the brief, said: “Arkansas’s healthcare ban threatens to deprive critical medical treatment to a generation of transgender adolescent patients. We were proud to partner with Stonewall UK and other leading LGBTQ+ organizations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific to show how the availability of medically-appropriate gender-affirming healthcare to adolescents in countries around the world stands in stark contrast to Arkansas’s attempt to curtail it.”

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) is one of A&O’s five global strategic business priorities. A&O strives to be a workplace where diverse individuals are encouraged to be themselves and bring the best of themselves to their careers and where, as a firm, we contribute to promoting and celebrating DE&I in our profession and with our clients.