Appeals court paves way for Florida to ban minors from accessing gender reassignment care

A nationwide initiative led by Republicans has sought in recent years to ban gender reassignment surgery on minors, despite support from all major medical associations, including the American Medical Association.

As part of this effort, Florida’s Republican-led legislature passed a law in May 2023 banning minors from accessing such drugs and imposing further restrictions on adult patients. The law was then met with a lawsuit against the state by two minors and one adult on behalf of the transgender community.

In June, a federal judge sided with the transgender community and ruled that the law was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

But the three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling on Monday in a 2-1 vote, saying the district court was likely wrong in concluding that the law was based on “abhorrent discrimination” against transgender citizens by state lawmakers and that the state would suffer harm from the inability to enforce the law.

“As for harming others, despite the current law, doctors may continue to prescribe and administer puberty blockers and hormones to adults. And minors who are already receiving them may continue to do so,” wrote two former district court judges, Britt Grant and Robert Luck, in the majority decision.

Former District Judge Charles Wilson, appointed by President Bill Clinton, dissented, arguing that the district court found “sufficient evidence” to support the conclusion that the law was passed because of abhorrent discrimination against transgender adults and minors.

“Gender-affirming care and identifying as transgender were referred to or described as ‘evil’ in various places,” Wilson wrote. “One sponsor tweeted, ‘Good thing we’re gone,’ in reference to individuals leaving the state of Florida due to the bill’s passage. … Other sponsors made statements that reflected a lack of belief in transgender identities and a desire to prevent transgender people from living in their transgender identities.”

He went on to say that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the state’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo had made similar remarks, while another lawmaker had referred to transgender people as “mutants,” “demons” and “goblins.”

Wilson added that denying access to gender reassignment care would cause “unnecessary suffering,” while refusing to defer would “support a decision that is in the public interest.”

“This is a medical issue and it is best for patients to make decisions together with healthcare professionals and to provide them with access to complete and unbiased information when necessary,” he said.

Plaintiffs’ counsel in the case said after the ruling that they would review their options but would make every possible effort to “protect their clients’ right to equal treatment under Florida law, which has been blatantly violated by these restrictions.”

“If these discriminatory restrictions are reinstated, transgender adults and youth will be denied life-saving treatment and Florida parents will be prevented from making the right medical decisions for their children,” the organizations, including GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, Human Rights Campaign and others, said in a statement.

“We will continue to fight for transgender people in Florida and their families and for the right of all to make health care decisions without government interference.”

According to the Movement Advancement Project, 24 states have banned minors from receiving gender reassignment care, although some of these bans may have already been lifted, temporarily lifted, or not yet taken effect.

The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates that there are about 16,200 people in Florida between the ages of 13 and 17 who identify as transgender.