Advocates Against Gender Affirming Care for Minors Testify in North Dakota Trial

Special assistant attorneys general Joseph Quinn and Daniel Gaustad listen to testimony during a trial examining the constitutionality of North Dakota’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

(Mary Steurer – North Dakota Monitor) -Two endocrinologists whose testimony has been disputed in other cases testified Friday in defense of North Dakota’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

Paul Hruz and Michael Laidlaw are outspoken advocates against using medications like puberty blockers and hormone therapy to treat people with gender dysphoria. They’ve appeared in courtrooms across the country as expert witnesses in legal battles examining the legitimacy of transgender medical care.

North Dakota hired Hruz and Laidlaw to bolster its case in a trial over a 2023 law barring health care professionals from providing gender-affirming care to anyone under 18.

The lawsuit is brought by Luis Casas, a North Dakota pediatric endocrinologist who says the law is an unconstitutional infringement upon equal protection and personal autonomy rights under the state constitution. He’s bringing the case on behalf of himself, as well as his current and future patients.