Federal judge strikes Florida ban on gender-affirming care for children

June 14, 2024

Politico reports that a federal judge has ruled as unconstitutional Florida’s new restrictions on so-called gender affirming treatment.

Tallahassee-based District Court Judge Robert L. Hinkle wrote in Tuesday’s ruling that by refusing to allow children to access treatments, that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republicans who voted for the measure are not acting in the interest of public health.

The law was the result of a presentation by Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Lapado gave to two state boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine that asked the two boards to restrict “castrating and sterilizing children, and mastectomies for girls.”

Hinkle’s ruling claimed that such surgeries were rare and likened the restrictions to racism and misogyny, stating: “Enforcing this moral view is not, however, a legitimate state interest that can sustain this statute.”

Hinkle wrote: “Whether based on morals, religion, unmoored hatred, or anything else, prohibiting or impeding a person from conforming to the person’s gender identity rather than to the person’s natal sex is not a legitimate state interest.”

A DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern responded in a text, “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.”

According to Politico, the case was the second major lawsuit filed against efforts by the state of Florida to restrict such procedures from minor children.

Photo: top, Credit: Lynne Sladsky/AP