A federal judge sided Tuesday with families who sued over Florida’s ban on gender transition procedures for minors, declaring that “gender identity is real.”
A group of families, backed by several LGBT activist groups, sued Florida in March shortly after the rule restricting minors from accessing surgical sex change procedures, puberty blockers and hormone therapy took effect. Northern District of Florida Judge Robert L. Hinkle, a Clinton appointee, granted a preliminary injunction against the law to prohibit it from being enforced against the plaintiffs, arguing that the “great weight of medical authority supports these treatments.”
Hinkle repeatedly stressed the reality of “gender identity” in his ruling.
“With extraordinarily rare exceptions not at issue here, every person is born with external sex characteristics, male or female, and chromosomes that match,” he wrote. “As the person goes through life, the person also has a gender identity—a deeply felt internal sense of being male or female.”
The court recognized the profound harm Florida is causing by forcing parents to watch their kids suffer rather than provide them with safe and effective care that will allow them to thrive. We’re proud to represent brave FL families with @GLADLaw, @HRC, & @SouthernLegal. pic.twitter.com/187Pr6Kcgv
— NCLR – National Center for Lesbian Rights (@NCLRights) June 6, 2023
Hinkle also slammed Florida’s claim that organizations that advocate for gender transition procedures are “dominated by individuals who pursued good politics, not good medicine.”
“If ever a pot called a kettle black, it is here,” he wrote. “The statute and the rules were an exercise in politics, not good medicine.”
“There has long been, and still is, substantial bigotry directed at transgender individuals… It is hardly surprising that doctors who understand that transgender identity can be real, not made up—doctors who are willing to provide supportive medical care—oppose anti-transgender bigotry,” Hinkle continued.
The Florida Department of Health told the Daily Caller News Foundation it “does not comment on any ongoing litigation.”
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