(Photo by Ted Eytan, from Flickr)
Federal Judge Robert Hinkle temporarily blocked portions of Florida’s law banning gender-affirming care for minors, ruling that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.
His ruling was narrowly focused on the three children whose parents filed the lawsuit. Hinkle’s preliminary injunction stated that the three transgender children could continue receiving treatment.
SB 254, the gender-affirming care ban that was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 17, restricted transgender care for both youth and adults. It barred new youth patients from starting hormone treatments, required that a doctor be in the room with a patient receiving gender-affirming care, barring telehealth appointments and nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants to begin care. Doctors who violate sections of the law could face first-degree misdemeanor charges.
“The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” Hinkle said, according to the AP, adding that even a witness for the state agreed.
Judge Hinkle said that the treatment affects the patients themselves and causes no harm to the defendants. He also said that if the children involved in the lawsuit could not begin puberty blockers, that they would “suffer irreparable harm.”
“There are risks attendant to not using these treatments, including the risk — in some instances, the near certainty — of anxiety and depression and even suicidal ideation. The challenged statute ignores the benefits that many patients realize from these treatments and the substantial risk posed by foregoing the treatments,” Hinkle said.
The lawsuit did not address the language in the law pertaining to adults that wish to begin or continue gender-affirming care.
