FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ( AP ) — A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a 2023 Florida law that blocked gender- affirming care for transgender minors and severely restricted such treatment for people, calling the statute unconstitutional.
When the state forbade transgender minors from receiving hormonal treatments and puberty blockers with their parents ‘ consent, senior judge Robert Hinkle claimed that the state went too far. Additionally, he forbids the state from requiring that transgender individuals only receive medical care from a physician and not from a listed caregiver or other qualified medical professional. Additionally, he forbid a moratorium on virtual trans adult therapy.
Hinkle argued that trans people are lawfully entitled to the kind of care they need, citing the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once compared those who opposed it to those who were opposed to equality for women and minorities.
” Some trans opponents summon religion to support their position, just as some when invoked faith to help their racism or misogyny”, Hinkle wrote in his 105- webpage decision. ” Trans opponents are of course free to hold their opinions. However, they are not complimentary to distinguish against transgender people simply because they are transgender.
” In day, prejudice against transgender people may diminish, just as racism and misogyny have diminished, “he continued”. The spiritual universe’s circle is long, but it bends toward justice, to quote a civil rights activist from a previous time.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ‘ business blasted Hinkle’s decision, issuing a speech calling it” false,” and vowing to appeal.
” Through their appointed members, the people of Florida acted to protect babies in this position, and the Court was bad to override their wants,” the speech said”. As we’ve seen here in Florida, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, there is no superior evidence to support the chemical and physical disfigurement of children. These procedures do permanent, existence- altering damage to children, and history does look again on this fad in horror.”
However, those who brought the lawsuit praised the outcome.
I’m so relieved the jury saw there is no clinical basis for this legislation because it was passed only to target trans folks like me and try to push us out of Florida, said Lucien Hamel, a transgender child.
” This is my home. I’ve lived here my entire life, “he said”. This is my son’s home. I ca n’t just uproot my family and move across the country. I’m relieved that I can once again receive the care I need here in Florida because the state has no place interfering with people’s private medical decisions.
The ruling means I wo n’t have to watch my daughter suffer unnecessarily because I ca n’t provide her with the care she needs, said a mother of one of the children who filed the lawsuit.
” Seeing Susan’s fear about this ban has been one of the hardest experiences we’ve endured as parents,” said the woman. To protect their privacy, she was given the names Jane Doe and Susan Doe in court records, respectively. We only want to make her happy, confident child again, and help her stay that way.
DeSantis signed the bill last year as he was getting ready for a presidential campaign that was heavily influenced by cultural conflicts.
” We never did this through all of human history until like, what, two weeks ago? Now this is something? He told enthralling supporters as he signed the legislation. They’re having third graders declare pronouns? We’re not doing the pronoun Olympics in Florida.”
At trial, Florida’s attorneys had come to the defense that the state could regulate medical care but could not stop someone from pursuing a transgender identity.
The only treatments available to minors are cross-sex hormones and puberty-blockers, for instance, giving testosterone to a woman who was born a woman. When the law was passed in May 2023, those who were receiving treatment continued to exist. Surgery, which is rare for minors, was still blocked.
Treatment was still permitted for adults, but it could only be administered by a doctor rather than an advanced practice registered nurse or other professional. The patient could n’t receive treatment via video call or other online means, which is not typically required with other medical procedures, as it required the patient to sign a consent form in person while the doctor is in the same room. A person who violates the law could face criminal charges, and a medical professional could lose their license.
Hinkle wrote that Florida has long approved treatment for gender dysphoria, a feeling that a person’s gender identity does not match their sex as it was birthed.
” But then the political winds changed,” Hinkle wrote. In 1996, Democratic Party President Bill Clinton appointed him to the bench.
For 99 % of people, Hinkle wrote, their biological sex and their gender identity are the same. But for a few, they differ. Even if some wo n’t believe it and think transgender people are making a choice, such as “whether to read Shakespeare or Grisham,” Hinkle claimed the state acknowledged during the trial.
Many people with this viewpoint generally reject all forms of transgender medicine and are therefore opposed to providing medical care that supports it, he said.
He claimed that several legislators made it clear in their comments that this was their intention despite the state’s acknowledgment that it cannot legally prevent transgender people from identifying as transgender and presenting themselves as they please.
At least 25 states have passed laws that restrict or outlaw gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and the majority of those states are facing legal action.
The state of Arkansas has filed an appeal with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but the only other case has been downgraded as unconstitutional so far.
Advocates are asking the U. S. Supreme Court to block Tennessee’s ban on gender- affirming care for minors.
Judges ‘ orders are temporarily preventing the enforcement of a ban in Montana and some of its components in Georgia.
