22nd June, 2023
A federal judge in Florida overturned a rule and a statute that barred the state from paying for transgender healthcare, the state’s second defeat in two weeks.
The state’s practises were found unconstitutional by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, who said they violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee to equal protection, as well as the federal Medicaid statute and the Affordable Care Act’s restriction on sex discrimination.
The injunction was expected when Hinkle partially stopped Florida from enforcing its recent restriction on people under the age of 18 getting gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy on June 6.
Judges in federal district courts in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, and Oklahoma have blocked state laws prohibiting gender-affirming care.
According to Human Rights Campaign, Republican lawmakers submitted more than 500 proposals restricting LGBTQ rights during the previous legislative session, with more than 70 of them succeeding. Twenty states have approved legislation prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors.
The bills’ sponsors claim they wish to protect children who have been mislead by their parents and doctors and may regret their gender transformation.
In his 54-page opinion, Hinkle stated that “many people with this view tend to disapprove all things transgender and so oppose medical care that supports a person’s transgender existence.”
“The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” the judge wrote after a two-week trial.
The plaintiffs were two transgender adults, August Dekker and Brit Rothstein, and two transgender kids who filed anonymously.
The defendants were the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and its secretary, Jason Weida, who did not respond to a request for comment after hours.
The AHCA had approved Medicaid payments for the plaintiffs, but in 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis’ executive office directed the AHCA to perform a new analysis and change direction. The AHCA “retained only consultants known in advance for their staunch opposition to gender-affirming care,” the judge concluded.
“The new… process was, from the start, a biassed effort to justify a predetermined outcome, not a fair analysis of the evidence,” the judge stated.
DeSantis is vying for the Republican presidential nomination and has emphasised his record of fiercely opposing progressive measures, including LGBTQ rights.
Reuters