Florida Senate passes ban on gender reassignment and minor regulations

The Florida Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would ban minors from undergoing sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy and restrict them from accessing puberty blockers.

In addition, the bill also includes new rules for adults seeking sex reassignment surgery, forcing them to request the surgery in official paperwork from the Florida Department of Health. It comes 24 hours after Florida’s senate passed one of the toughest abortion bans in the country.

The bill, which was sponsored by Senator Clay Yarborough, a Republican from Jacksonville, passed easily by a 27-12 vote. A similar bill is also being passed in the Sunshine State’s House under Rep. Randy Fine of Melbourne Bach.

Both Fine and Yarborough are loyalists of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. In 2022, the 2024 potential presidential candidate asked medical boards in the state to ban the practice of gender-affirming care for minors.

“We have a responsibility to all Florida children to not let this happen in our state. A decision of this magnitude absolutely cannot be made by a child in psychological distress. This bill allows children to be children,” Senator Yarborough told the House on Tuesday.

A day before the cote, protesters for LGBTQ+ rights showed up at Yarborough’s home

A day before the vote, pro-LGBTQ+ protesters held a rally outside his home.

Among those opposed to the bill was Boynton Beach Democrat Senator Lori Berman. During the debate, she compared the new bill to ‘forbidding healthcare’.

“This state should not intervene to override parental health care decisions for their children. This bill is wrong in the way it attacks transgender adults,” Berman added.

Children currently being treated for gender dysphoria are exempt from the new rules.

Yarborough said during the debates that the new bill is most important for children who are told that “the only option to cure mental health problems is gender-affirming treatments and surgeries, which cause permanent disfigurement.”

The conservative said the gender reassignment surgery could reduce a person’s ability to have their own children and cause “devastating long-term damage.”

The law allows the state to take custody of a child if it is “subject to, or is likely to be subject to, regulations or procedures for gender reassignment,” the law said. Florida voice.

The latest decision comes 24 hours after the Florida Senate passed a bill to ban abortions after six weeks, another move heavily supported by Governor Ron DeSantis.

The vote sparked demonstrations in the state capitol that resulted in the arrest of the Florida Democratic Party leader and a senator by city police.

The bill still needs to be approved by the House before it reaches the governor’s desk. Florida currently bans abortions after 15 weeks.

More than a dozen states have restricted access to abortions after the overthrow of Roe V Wade

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the 2023 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, Saturday, April 1, 2023

A six-week ban would better align Florida with the abortion restrictions of other Republican-controlled states and give DeSantis a political victory on an issue important to GOP primary voters ahead of his possible run for the White House.

Florida Democrats and abortion rights groups say the proposal disproportionately affects low-income women and people of color.

The party said Florida Democratic Party chairman Nikki Fried and Lauren Book, Florida Senate Minority Leader, were arrested late Monday during a sit-in protest outside the Florida State Capitol.

Footage shared on social media showed the two women and other protesters being handcuffed by police officers.

In a press release, the Tallahassee police said anti-abortion-ban protesters were told to leave after sunset, but 11 people refused to go and were arrested for trespassing. They did not call them by name.

The bill would have greater implications for abortion access throughout the South, as the nearby states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi ban the procedure at all stages of pregnancy and Georgia bans it after heart activity can be detected, which takes about six weeks.

The proposal allows exceptions to save the woman’s life and exceptions in case of pregnancy caused by rape or incest up to 15 weeks gestation.

In those cases, a woman would need to provide documentation, such as a medical record, a restraining order, or a police report. DeSantis has called the rape and incest provisions prudent.

From expanding gun rights to chasing “awakened” investors, the Florida Legislature is quickly working on a list of bills that will give Republican administration Ron DeSantis conservative-satisfying policy successes as he prepares to launch a presidential campaign.

The usually sluggish legislature ended the week by sending bills from DeSantis to protect businesses and insurance companies from lawsuits, enable every Floridian to get a government-paid private school voucher, and an affordable housing bill that prevents local governments from passing rent control ordinances to issue.

“We have a lot of the governor’s priorities in a really good place. We will pass them,” House Speaker Paul Renner said in March.

“We are moving fast… Some of what the governor has proposed is monumental and good, and we support it 100%.”

That gives DeSantis more time to brag about successes while avoiding any perception of infighting as his priorities are held hostage until the closing moments of the session.

As the 60-day session began, DeSantis predicted that his priorities would pass quickly.

“They’re aware that it’s probably better not to kind of pile up eight cars the last week of the session, where the whole agenda comes through in the last 72 hours,” DeSantis said. “I think you’ll see more sooner.”