A federal judge nixed some major parts of Florida’s ban on transgender treatments and procedures for children.
Judge Strikes Down Florida’s Ban On Transgender Medical Services For Children https://t.co/2xjGzKHSqz pic.twitter.com/R4CVprF911
— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) June 11, 2024
In Judge Robert Hinkle’s ruling on Tuesday, he decided that Florida’s ban on hormonal transgender medical treatments for children, such as cross-gender hormones and puberty blockers, violated equal protection rights, as plaintiffs argued.
While he acknowledged that the state of Florida has the right to regulate gender-affirming care if necessary, he wrote that the state “cannot flatly deny transgender individuals safe and effective medical treatment — treatment with medications routinely provided to others with the state’s full approval so long as the purpose is not to support the patient’s transgender identity.”
The judge also struck down two parts of the state ban that applies to adults, one of which requires adults to visit a doctor before starting cross-gender hormones. The second adult-related part of the ban that got nixed states that hormone treatments for adults “may not be prescribed, administered, or performed except by a physician.”
The ruling comes after three families and some LGBT groups filed a lawsuit against the ban, which they claimed denies parents the right to make medical decisions for their children who identify as transgender.
The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed to appeal the ruling, with the governor’s deputy press secretary Julia Friedland, saying, “We disagree with the court’s erroneous rulings on the law, on the facts, and on the science.”
“As we’ve seen here in Florida, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, there is no quality evidence to support the chemical and physical mutilation of children. These procedures do permanent, life-altering damage to children, and history will look back on this fad in horror,” she added.
Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for DeSantis, also argued that the judge’s ruling overrides the wishes of the people conveyed through their elected representatives who put the ban in place.
“We disagree with the Court’s erroneous rulings on the law, on the facts, and on the science. As we’ve seen here in Florida, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, there is no quality evidence to support the chemical and physical mutilation of children. These procedures do permanent, life-altering damage to children, and history will look back on this fad in horror,” he added.
