(Headline USA) A federal appeals court Monday cleared the way for Florida to enforce a ban against transgender experimentation on minors, reversing a lower court order against the ban while the matter is appealed.
The 2-1 decision was issued by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta after U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle blocked the law in June.
The law revived by the ruling prohibits transgender clinics and other child groomers from prescribing puberty blockers and hormonal treatments for minors, even with their parents’ permission.
To prevent clinics from exploiting lucrative gender-surgery practices by rubber-stamping treatments based on the whims and caprices of vulnerable, mentally fragile patients, the law also requires that transgender adults receive treatment only from a doctor, not a nurse or other medical practitioner. Adults who want the treatment must be in the room with the physician when signing the consent form.
Florida’s attorneys acknowledged during the district court trial that the state cannot stop someone from pursuing a transgender identity, but said it can regulate medical care.
Because genital surgeries for minors were already blocked under state law, the only treatments at issue in the case were puberty blocking treatments and cross-sex hormones—giving testosterone to a biological female, for example. Those who were undergoing treatment when the law was adopted in May 2023 were allowed to continue.
At least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning the life-altering procedures for minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
However, most of those states face ongoing lawsuits. A federal judge struck down the ban in Arkansas as unconstitutional, and a judge’s order is in place temporarily blocking enforcement of the ban in Montana.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
