Some of Florida’s restrictions on medical care for transgender children and adults are unconstitutional and unjustified, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by transgender Floridians and their families against the state. “Transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs. But they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender,” U.
S. District Judge Robert Hinkle’s decision read. This ruling in Doe v.
Ladapo prohibits enforcement of some parts of a 2023 Florida law that added several restrictions to adults receiving cross-sex hormone therapy and blocked puberty blockers and hormone therapy for teenagers under 18. The suit was brought by several parents of children whose gender identity did not align with their biological sex, as well as a transgender man. The law was passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature and signed by Gov.
Ron DeSantis. DeSantis spokesperson Julia Friedland said that the state will appeal this ruling. “Through their elected representatives, the people of Florida acted to protect children in this state, and the Court was wrong to override their wishes.
We disagree with the Court’s erroneous rulings on the law, on the facts, and on the science,” Friedland wrote in an email. The judge wrote that the law showed “bias of the kind sometimes directed at racial or ethnic minorities or women but also a belief that transgenders should not exist at all—or should not be allo.
