Opponents of a Florida law banning medical care for transgender youth have told an appeals court that “political bullies,” including far-right Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, have deprived families of the right to determine their children’s futures.
The claim came in a short one to the 11th Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which will issue a final ruling in January on the constitutionality of DeSantis’ law that bans gender-affirming care for transgender minors and limits such treatment for adults.
“I love my child and want to get her the health care she needs,” one of the plaintiffs, identified as Jane Doe, parent of minor Susan Doe, said in the filing from an alliance of LGBTQ+ advocates and human rights groups.
“As a parent, it is heartbreaking to see my right to make health care decisions for my child taken away by political bullies, and the pain and harm (they) have caused my child.”
A federal judge struck down the law in June, ruling after a lengthy trial that Florida lawmakers acted with hostility toward a minority group instead of taking the science into account. DeSantis’s wider war against the LGBTQ+ community included a bathroom bill, a law banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports teams, and the infamous “don’t say gay” law that banned classroom discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity.
“Transgender opponents are of course free to maintain their beliefs. But they are not free to discriminate against transgender people simply because they are transgender,” Judge Robert Hinkle said in a candid 105-page ruling.
The appeals court in August put Hinkle’s ruling on hold pending its own deliberations, and is expected to set up lively oral arguments early next year as lawyers for the state try to defend one of the most extreme pieces of DeSantis’ culture war agenda.
“The evidence showed so clearly that hostility towards transgender people (has driven) these laws, from some truly extraordinary statements from the governor, the medical boards, from state legislators who openly expressed their disapproval of transgender people, and some called out transgender people, demons, devils, mutants,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), one of the groups that sued the state of Florida, and Joseph Ladapo, surgeon general, on behalf of the families.
“But there was also evidence that the state health administration and medical boards radically deviated from their normal processes to achieve a predetermined outcome. If all factors show that there was intentional employment discrimination, the law is unconstitutional.”
Hinkle agreed with that argument in his ruling, noting that the state was “unable to provide evidence of even one patient suffering adverse effects or regretting care.”
He also attacked Republican lawmakers who passed the law.
“The evidence that animus motivated at least some is overwhelming and undisputed,” Hinkle wrote.
“Another called them ‘bad,’ and a sponsor (of the bill) said ‘good riddance’ to every transgender person who left the state. Now that lawmakers have loudly and proudly proclaimed their bias, the defendants cannot now hide from it.”
According to the Human Rights Campaign, another signatory to the lawsuit, DeSantis signed the health care law in May 2023, part of a wave of dozens of anti-trans and LGBTQ+ measures implemented by Republican administrations across the country.
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‘They try to perform sex change operations on minors, give them puberty blockers and do things that are irreversible for them. This will permanently ban the mutilation of minors,” DeSantis said at a signing ceremony. Reuters reports this.
However, gender reassignment surgeries for minors are rare and only take place after detailed and lengthy discussions involving medical professionals. In 2002, Politifact ranked as “mostly false” DeSantis’ claim that “they are literally cutting off the genitals of young children” after the state provided just two examples of teenagers in the US undergoing transition-related surgeries: a 15-year-old in California and a reality TV star Jazz Jenningswho underwent gender reassignment in 2018, four months before her 18th birthday.
Despite what the groups see as “overwhelming” evidence in their favor, Minter is unsure which way the appeals panel will go, given what he sees as “mixed messages” coming from the court in recent rulings on transgender cases.
Last month, it overturned a lower court ruling in Alabama ruled that it was unconstitutional for the state to require transgender people to undergo reassignment surgery before they could change the assigned gender on their driver’s license.
“The 11th Circuit said, ‘No, this law does not discriminate against transgender people on its face; it merely regulates medical treatment, but it also ruled that if a federal judge ruled that a law like this was enacted for a discriminatory purpose, it would be unconstitutional,” he said.
“We argued that Florida’s law was based on a discriminatory purpose, Judge Hinkle issued his opinion and then the 11th Circuit immediately struck down this law, which was disturbing, unusual and troubling.