Florida ban on gender transitioning for minors now in effect

Florida’s rule barring minors from undergoing sex change procedures is now in effect — and Republican state lawmakers are moving forward with plans to strengthen the restrictions even further.

The Florida Board of Medicine’s new measure — which went into effect Thursday — bans the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery to treat gender dysphoria for anyone in the Sunshine State under the age of 18.

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While children who were already receiving gender-confirmation treatment prior to Thursday can continue to do so, they are not able to undergo sex reassignment surgery under the new rule.

Separately, GOP lawmakers are currently pushing a bill through the Florida Senate that would make it a felony to provide such gender-affirming care to minors, as well as to cover similar care for adults. Will ban the use of state funds.

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A companion bill has also been introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

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Before the gender ban took effect, Gov. Ron DeSantis defended his position after President Biden gave an interview calling Florida’s new rule “close to sinful.”

“What they’re doing is terrible,” Biden told “The Daily Show” earlier this week. “It’s not like, you know, a kid wakes up one morning and says, ‘You know, I’ve decided I want to be a man’ or ‘I want to be a woman’ … I mean What are they thinking here?”

“It’s cruel,” said the president.

DeSantis, who is widely expected to run against Biden in 2024, hit back, Tweet: “Prohibiting the mutilation of minors is not a ‘sin’. It is not acceptable for the federal government to mandate that procedures such as sex change operations be allowed for children.”

The Sunshine State’s rule comes after the Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine first announced in November that they had approved the new ban – provoking a backlash from trans activists who argued that medical evidence contradicted Has been done

During a tense hearing where opponents and supporters of the ban voiced their concerns, Dr. Hector Villa, a board of medicine member and pediatric anesthesiologist, reviewed “hundreds of studies” as part of the decision-making process.

They argued that the “overwhelming data does not support” the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

“This board is not against research; It’s not against caring for transgender children,” Villa said.

Scott Ackerman, president of the Florida Board of Medicine, said of the decision: “What the board has tried to do is protect our children from treatments that have irreversible harm … be taken care of,” According to Orlando Weekly,

Nationally, a handful of other states are approving similar measures.

GOP legislators in Kentucky passed a new measure on Thursday to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

Kentucky’s new bill also includes sweeping measures that would allow teachers to forbid referring to transgender students by their preferred pronouns and prohibit schools from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with students of any age.

Supporters argued that they were trying to protect children from having to undergo gender-affirming treatment, which they might later regret as adults.

GOP Sen. Lindsay Tichenor said, “We’re talking about removing healthy body parts that you can’t get back.” “I’ve seen the pictures. It’s horrible.

Meanwhile, Mississippi’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves recently signed a bill to ban gender-affirming hormones or surgery in the state for anyone under the age of 18.

And the Republican governors of South Dakota and Utah also signed bans on gender-affirming care this year.

post with wires