TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed several bills impacting transgender people, including one that bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Other bills signed into law ban children from attending drag shows and target how students learn about and engage with the LGBTQ+ community.
Senate Bill 254 outlaws gender transition surgeries and medication, such as puberty blockers, for minors. It also makes it a first-degree misdemeanor for physicians and health care workers to provide gender-affirming medication or conduct these surgeries, and gives state courts the ability to obtain a warrant to take physical custody of a child who is "being subjected to sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures."
Florida parents now are taking the new law to court, hoping to obtain an emergency block of the law.
"We are seeking emergency relief," said Shannon Minter, the Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "I have a hearing tomorrow in federal district court, asking the judge to stop enforcement of the new law..."
Minter called the law devastating, forcing parents to choose between potentially losing custody of their child or giving them care as they see fit. Parents from across the state of Florida have joined the lawsuit to put a stop to the new law, arguing it is unconstitutional.
"Just desperate to get relief, to be able to continue to get the medical treatment that their children need, it was just such a shocking thing for politicians to step in and tell parents no, you cannot obtain the medical care," Minter said.
Minter said the law, as written now, is unclear about whether kids who are already receiving gender-affirming care may continue to receive it, without penalty of the law. It's also unclear if doctors providing that continuation of care could be considered to be violating the law.
"Some of these treatments are designed to protect kids who have very severe gender dysphoria, and the timing of the care is really medically critical," Minter said. "So we're talking about having negative effects that are gonna last the rest of these children's lives."
Advocates for the families against the new law will be in court on Friday to argue their motions to temporarily block the Board of Medicine's rules and the health care ban provisions in SB 254 so that their children can continue to receive medical care as the case continues.
Seven parents are anonymously listed in the court filing.
"We believe the law is blatantly unconstitutional," Minter said. "And every other federal court thus far that has heard a challenge to a similar law has agreed with that and has enjoined the law — we sure hope that's what happens in Florida."
On Friday, lawyers representing families anonymously partaking in this lawsuit will ask a judge for a temporary restraining order on the bill. Then, if granted, a hearing will be scheduled for a preliminary injunction motion to obtain a more permanent block on the law.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights is based out of California. The legal team arguing the case is comprised of attorneys from Southern Legal Counsel, The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.