A federal court in Florida overturned a regulation and a statute that prohibited the state from paying for transgender healthcare, the state’s second setback in two weeks.
The policies, endorsed by Republican Gov. and 2024 White House hopeful Ron DeSantis, were found illegal by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, who decided that they broke the constitutional right to equal protection guaranteed by the 14th amendment. The federal court also regarded the measures to be in infringement of the federal Medicaid statute and the Affordable Care Act’s ban on sex discrimination.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit were two transgender adults, August Dekker and Brit Rothstein, as well as two other transgender adolescents who filed under aliases. Medicaid payments for their transitional care had been pre-approved by the AHCA, but in 2022 Ron DeSantis’ executive office directed the AHCA to undertake a fresh review and changed its mind.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the judge concluded that the AHCA “retained only consultants known in advance for their staunch opposition to gender-affirming care.” “Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” the judge wrote after a two-week trial. The ruling follows similar federal courts’ decisions to overturn state statutes prohibiting gender-affirming care in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, and Oklahoma.
On June 6, the same court partially stopped Florida from enforcing its recent prohibition on minors getting gender-affirming treatments, including hormone therapy and puberty blockers.
During the past legislative year, GOP legislators submitted more than 500 proposals limiting LGBTQ rights, and more than 70 of those laws were eventually passed in several state assemblies. Conservative politicians claim that they wish to safeguard kids who may regret their gender change because they are being mislead by parents and physicians. Currently, twenty Republican-led states have adopted laws prohibiting gender-affirming care for kids.
In his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, DeSantis has emphasized his history of vehemently opposing liberal initiatives, such as LGBTQ rights. Last May, he signed a law that forbids transgender minors from getting gender-affirming medical care, such as hormone-blocking medications or sex-reassignment surgery. According to the Florida regulation, such medical alternatives, which are endorsed by the American Medical Association, are equated with child abuse.
As a result of heated political climate, across the country several children’s hospitals have experienced hostility and threats of violence for delivering gender-affirming care.
