Tag: genderaffirming

Florida Legislature votes to ban gender-affirming care for minors

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The legislation the House approved on a 83-28 vote, SB 254, is less restrictive than previous versions of the measure. One of those versions sought to bar private insurance companies from covering gender-affirming care to minors and adults and forbid any changes to gender on birth certificates for transgender individuals.
But the sponsor of the House bill, state Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay), said he’ll revisit those provisions during Florida’s next annual legislative session.
“We cannot let perfect be the enemy of good,” Fine said. “There are certainly things we wanted in our bill and there’s always next year.”
The measure marks the latest bill the Florida Legislature passed focusing on the transgender community. On Wednesday, GOP lawmakers approved a bill that ban school employees from asking students for their preferred pronouns and restricts school staff from sharing their pronouns with students if they “do not correspond” with their sex. They also passed a bill that makes it a misdemeanor trespassing offense for someone to use bathrooms in government buildings and schools that don’t align with their sex at birth.
DeSantis, who is expected to announce a White House bid in the coming weeks, has publicly objected to gender-affirming care and said doctors who perform such related surgeries should be sued. His administration last year blocked state-subsidized health care from paying for treatments of transgender people while Florida medical boards also banned transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care.
The state actions banning Medicaid payments and minors for receiving gender-affirming care are currently facing separate lawsuits in federal court.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association support gender-affirming care for adults and adolescents. But medical experts said gender-affirming care for children rarely, if ever, includes surgery. Instead, doctors are more likely to recommend counseling, social transitioning and hormone replacement therapy.
Democrats said Thursday that the bill banning minors from receiving gender-affirming care will hurt children diagnosed with gender dysphoria and will lead to transgender people being alienated in Florida.

“Trans people are no different because they are humans too,” state Rep. Jennifer “Rita” Harris (D-Orlando) said. “Their existence is valid, and they’re no more likely to commit a crime or seek to hurt someone than anyone else.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 5, 2023
Indiana governor signs ban on gender-affirming care

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Opponents of the legislation said the types of care the bill would ban, such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers, are vital and often life-saving for transgender kids. Medical providers say most of the procedures banned in the bill are reversible and safe for minors. Transgender medical treatments for children and teens have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.
But supporters of the legislation have contended such care is not reversible or carries side effects that only an adult — and not a minor’s parent — can consent to.
Lawmakers also banned gender-transition surgeries for minors in the state, though hospital representatives in Indiana told lawmakers doctors do not perform genital surgeries for minors or provide them surgery referrals.
At least 12 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia. Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and nearly two dozen states are considering bills this year to restrict or ban care.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 5, 2023
West Virginia governor signs ban on gender-affirming care

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Under the law, which will take effect in January 2024, a patient can be prescribed puberty blockers and hormone therapy after receiving parental consent and a diagnosis of severe gender dysphoria from two doctors, including a mental health provider.
Gender dysphoria is defined by medical professionals as severe psychological distress experienced by those whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth.
Lawmakers in West Virginia and other states moving to enact bans on transgender health care for youth and young adults often characterize gender-affirming treatments as medically unproven, potentially dangerous in the long term and a symptom of “woke” culture.
Every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association, supports gender-affirming care for youths.
A 2017 study by UCLA Law’s The Williams Institute estimated West Virginia had the highest per capita rate of transgender youth in the country.
The rate of suicide ideation, or having suicidal thoughts or ideas, for transgender youth in West Virginia is three times higher than the rate for all youth in the state, according to West Virginia Youth Risk Behavior Survey data.
At least 11 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia. Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and nearly two dozen states are considering bills this year to restrict or ban care.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 30, 2023
Groups sue to stop Florida’s gender-affirming care ban for kids

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The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association support gender-affirming care for adults and adolescents. But medical experts said gender-affirming care for children rarely, if ever, includes surgery. Instead, doctors are more likely to recommend counseling, social transitioning and hormone replacement therapy.
“The transgender medical bans also violate the guarantees of equal protection by banning essential medical treatments needed by the adolescent Plaintiffs because they are transgender,” the lawsuit states. The suit doesn’t not identify the plaintiffs out of safety concerns.
The two medical boards approved the new standards for gender dysphoria treatment in November at the request of Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who said over the summer that the risks associated with the surgeries and prescription treatment for kids is largely untested and that the risks outweigh medical benefits.
Florida Department of Health Spokesperson Nikki Whiting said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the groups suing the state, said the bans contradict guidelines supported by medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
“The policy unlawfully strips parents of the right to make informed decisions about their children’s medical treatment and violates the equal protection rights of transgender youth by denying them medically necessary, doctor-recommended healthcare to treat their gender dysphoria,” the group said in a press release.
The plaintiffs plan to file a motion seeking a preliminary injunction that would halt the case until it goes through trial.
The state’s bans on transgender treatments for children followed separate rulemaking by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration in August that banned the state’s Medicaid program from covering surgeries and hormone blockers.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 24, 2023