gender affirming care

A brief from the Justice Department argues that Florida's lawsuit is “premised on several misapprehensions” about the rule and that a injunction motion should be rejected.

Noting that the appeals court recently tossed a similar ruling in Alabama, the governor says it's the state’s duty to protect children and to stand up for laws passed by elected legislators.

Federal judge Robert Hinkle, of the Northern District of Florida, said SB 254 was only passed out of a sense of “anti-transgender animus” from elected officials. The federal ruling comes too late for transgender adults who've already left the state.

The ruling in Doe v. Ladapo found that SB 254 and the related medical board rules violate the equal protection rights of transgender individuals and parents of minors in Florida.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case the week of Sept. 16 in Birmingham.

The federal change is designed to prevent discrimination in programs that receive federal money. In a lawsuit, the state claims it interferes with Florida laws "protecting the health and safety of its residents.”

The Transgender American Veterans Association is suing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, two years after the department said it would provide gender-affirming surgery.

At least 22 states have enacted bans on gender-affirming care for children, with most of them approved in the past year.

Even in states where laws protect minors’ access to gender-affirming care, malpractice insurance premiums are keeping small and independent clinics from treating patients.

Some of the health-related cases that will go before the state Supreme Court involve ballot referendums, with issues including abortion and marijuana.