Federal Court Blocks Florida’s Ban on Sex Change Treatments for Minors

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A federal court on Tuesday blocked Florida’s ban on sex-change treatments for minors with similar restrictions for adults on the grounds that the legislation is unconstitutional, Forbes reports.

A class-action suit, the case was filed by four transgender adults and seven parents of transgender minors who challenged as unconstitutional Florida’s 2023 bill SB 254 ‘Treatments for Sex Reassignment.’ The bill (1) prohibits transgender minors from receiving widely accepted sex-change treatment and (2) imposes restrictions on how such care can be provided to adults or to minors who were receiving treatment before the statute and rules took effect.

The plaintiffs argued that there was no medical basis for the ban or restrictions and that parents were being denied the right to make medical decisions for their children, Forbes reports.

Agreeing with the plaintiffs that bill SB 254 is unconstitutional, Judge Robert L. Hinkle in the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida wrote in his ruling: “The State of Florida can regulate as needed but 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.”

“Florida has adopted a statute and rules that ban gender-affirming care for minors even when medically appropriate. The ban is unconstitutional,” Hinkle wrote. “Transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs. But they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender,” Hinkle added. “In time, discrimination against transgender individuals will diminish, just as racism and misogyny have diminished.”

DeSantis’ press secretary Jeremy Redfern told Forbes that the state will appeal: “Florida will continue to fight to ensure children are not chemically or physically mutilated in the name of radical, new age ‘gender ideology.’”

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