A federal judge has struck down as unconstitutional a 2023 Florida law that blocked gender-affirming care for transgender minors and severely restricted such treatment for adults.

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a 2023 Florida law that blocked gender-affirming care for transgender minors and severely restricted such treatment for adults, calling the statute unconstitutional.

Senior Judge Robert Hinkle said the state went too far when it barred transgender minors from being prescribed puberty blockers and hormonal treatments with their parents’ permission. He also stopped the state from requiring that transgender adults only receive treatment from a doctor and not from a registered nurse or other qualified medical practitioner. And he barred a ban on online treatment for transgender adults.

Hinkle said transgender people are constitutionally entitled to the legitimate treatment they need and, quoting the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., compared those who oppose it to those who were once against equality for minorities and women.

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Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office blasted Hinkle’s ruling, issuing a statement calling it “erroneous,” and vowing to appeal.

  • @LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    24•5 months ago

    Can’t believe the UK is now worse off than Florida. Anyway happy for Floridians, gender affirming care is extremely important for our people, absolutely life-saving stuff. I may never be able to go back and get it as a youth but I’m at least glad young people today can.

    • @Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
      18•5 months ago

      Honestly the last year or so has shown me that the madness is America wasn’t unique to us, we’ve just been ahead of the curve. The elections in Europe this last year have been genuinely scary to watch.

      • @frezik@midwest.social
        5•5 months ago

        Europe as a whole never was “better” than the US, just different. People tended to focus on issues like healthcare and the social safety nets, where most European countries make better decisions than the US. However, when you take individual European countries (since “Europe” isn’t a single united country to begin with, not even with the EU), and look at issues like gay rights, abortion, or even racial issues, the US often comes out ahead.

    • @cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6•5 months ago

      Thankfully we have an election soon. The current polls put the Tories in a VERY bad situation. Hopefully we can send a clear and unequivocal message about things like this.

      • @Omniraptor@lemm.ee
        2•5 months ago

        your labor party seems to be doing everything it can to transform into tories 2.0 though. The greatest trick thatcher ever pulled etc etc

        • @cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3•5 months ago

          First things first. The Tories get a good kick in the teeth. Then we can work on the labour party. Thankfully they are generally more responsive to pressure. The Tories regularly screw them over on that front, but hopefully we can actually get some improvements out of them.

          • @Gamoc@lemmy.world
            3•5 months ago

            Yeah I look forward to the few scraps they give us to sustain the illusion whilst they continue to help drag us further and further right. Precisely what happened in America.

  • Veraxus
    18•5 months ago

    By this judges logic, the government also has no authority to restrict abortion, as medical treatment should be solely determined by medical professionals and their patients.

    Shame the ruling doesn’t extend to other forms of basic medical care.

  • @captainlezbian@lemmy.world
    3•5 months ago

    Oh damn, that’s real good, I hope it applies to other states. My girlfriend’s son would’ve needed puberty blockers even if he wasn’t trans

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    2•5 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a 2023 Florida law that blocked gender-affirming care for transgender minors and severely restricted such treatment for adults, calling the statute unconstitutional.

    Senior Judge Robert Hinkle said the state went too far when it barred transgender minors from being prescribed puberty blockers and hormonal treatments with their parents’ permission.

    He also stopped the state from requiring that transgender adults only receive treatment from a doctor and not from a registered nurse or other qualified medical practitioner.

    “Through their elected representatives, the people of Florida acted to protect children in this state, and the Court was wrong to override their wishes,” the statement said.

    At trial, Florida’s attorneys had conceded that the state cannot stop someone from pursuing a transgender identity, but said it can regulate medical care.

    He said even though the state concedes it cannot constitutionally block people from identifying as transgender and presenting themselves as they wish, several legislators made it clear in their comments that this was their goal.

    The original article contains 978 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!