Florida families head to federal court over ban on gender-affirming health care for children
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Attorneys for three Florida families will be in federal court on Friday to argue motions to temporarily block enforcement of SB 254, which criminalizes transgender health care for minors.
As the case continues, advocates for the families say the temporary restraining order would allow their children to access urgently needed medical care.
The bill was signed into law by Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday in Tampa.
Planned Parenthood immediately started canceling appointments for gender-affirming health care. The families have a pending challenge to rules set by the state Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine that categorically ban all treatment of gender dysphoria for people under eighteen years of age.
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Wednesday's filing for an emergency order adds a challenge to the provisions in SB 254 that codify those rules into state law, add criminal and civil penalties, and according to the Human Rights Campaign, create additional barriers for families with transgender adolescents.
Ron DeSantis signs series of bills in Tampa.
The families are represented by Southern Legal Counsel, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Human Rights Campaign, which released the following statement:
This is a state of emergency for Florida parents, who are already being forced to watch their kids suffer rather than get them the safe and effective healthcare they need and that will allow them to thrive. Today, Governor DeSantis doubled down on the nightmare created by the Florida Boards of Medicine rules by signing SB 254 into law.
This law ignores science, unconstitutionally inserts the state into family privacy and parental decision-making, deliberately provokes family conflict by inviting challenges to established custody orders, and tramples on the rights and wellbeing of transgender adolescents.
File: Protect Trans Youth sign.
We are asking the court to take swift action to block the ban on access to essential healthcare in SB 254, as well as the Boards of Medicine bans, to stop further harm to transgender youth and their families while the plaintiffs’ case continues.
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The law comes as part of a series of anti-LGBTQ+ bills Gov. DeSantis signed into law on Wednesday. Others restrict pronoun use in schools and force people to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex at birth.
DeSantis has promoted anti-LGBTQ+ legislation as he prepares to seek the GOP presidential nomination. His bill-signing ceremony at an evangelical Christian school had a campaign-like feel, as opposed to when he signed measures on abortion and gun rights in private.
State Sen. Shevrin Jones, who is gay, said the governor chose a setting where he was likely to get praise for bigotry.