Missoula, Montana - A gender-affirming care ban in Montana has been halted in the latest legal victory for transgender rights advocates.

Montana District Court Judge Jason Marks has pulled the brakes on Montana's gender-affirming care ban, ruling that it discriminates against transgender people.

The legislation in question, SB 99, would ban gender-affirming care, including hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and surgeries, for minors in the state. The law was passed in April and scheduled to take effect at the end of September.

The gender-affirming care ban made national headlines when GOP legislators voted to censure Montana's first openly transgender state representative, Zooey Zephyr, for speaking out against the bill.

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Two transgender plaintiffs challenged the law after its passage, arguing that it discriminates based on both transgender status and sex.

Judge Marks ruled in their favor, arguing that if the law were to go into effect, the medical treatments it mentions would remain legal for cisgender but not for transgender Montanans.

"Plaintiffs have put forth sufficient evidence to show that the medical community overwhelmingly agrees that the treatments proscribed by SB 99 are the accepted standard of care for treating gender dysphoria in minors," Judge Marks wrote, rejecting the notion that gender-affirming care is experimental and unsafe.

"Defendants' argument is detached from the evidence presented to the Court that the treatments proscribed by SB 99 are safe and in line with the recognized standard of care for treating gender dysphoria in minors."