Trans rights continue to be under attack across the nation with the proliferation of discriminatory bills centered on sports, health care, books, and even bathroom access. As we near the midterm elections in November, we know conservatives are trying their hardest to distract from their failures to lead and serve constituents, so they’re trying to stir up manufactured outrage to get people to vote—even though they don’t do a thing to actually help residents. And they’re churning terror, hate, and misinformation against a vulnerable population. It's abhorrent, and sadly, it’s what we expect at this point.
Though certainly not the only state where anti-LGBTQ+ measures are taking hold, Florida is definitely one to watch. For example, on Friday, the Florida Board of Medicine held a joint workshop in Orlando on rules and guidelines around providing safe, age-appropriate, life-saving gender-affirming care to minors in the state. The purpose of the discussion, which included public comment as well as from medical “experts,” is to help develop rules and guidelines for state access to trans health care for youth in the state.
To say it was a disaster is an understatement.
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On Friday, Oct. 28, members of both the Florida Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine Joint Rules/Legislative Committee participate in the session held at the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport. It was an hours-long confusing nightmare that ultimately resulted in the joint committee voting in favor of the proposed rule banning gender-affirming care for youth in the state, including things like puberty blockers and hormonal therapies.
“It’s just plain wrong,” said openly trans woman Amy Rachel when speaking to Click Orlando, adding that people’s lives are literally at stake. “Some are deliberately spreading misinformation about the transgender community,” she added. “And about the kinds of treatments that are available and given.”
She’s exactly right, of course. Republicans have made it a priority to push inflammatory misinformation when it comes to trans folks and especially when it comes to gender-affirming health care. In the big picture, conservatives are using the old “queer people are predatory” and “queer sexuality is obscene and inappropriate” tropes to stifle LGBTQ+ people, media, and histories. And when it comes to trans people, they’re hoping to legislate them out of (open) existence. Again: It’s evil.
Conservatives insist on describing gender-affirming care as “permanent” and “irreversible,” which is not only a gross oversimplification but also simply not true as a blanket statement. They also use buzzwords like “mutilation” and talk about genital surgeries when they’re not even an available option the vast majority of the time.
In speaking to WUSF in an interview, pediatric endocrinologist Kristin Dayton of the University of Florida, who was scheduled to speak at Friday’s meeting, clarified that though they work in a pediatric gender clinic, they don’t offer “any sort of genital surgeries, anything that would alter the genitalia of anyone who is a child. Dayton said explicitly: "No one under the age of 18 is getting a surgical procedure like that."
This is basically the same as many, many providers and clinicians have said when they’ve faced attacks from far-right conservatives accusing them of deforming children. Thanks to extremists online, like the infamous Libs of TikTok, for example, we’ve seen blatant lies spread about what kind of care trans-inclusive hospitals and clinics are providing… And we’ve also seen providers be barraged with threats, hate, and harassment.
During Friday’s meeting, according to LGBTQ+ outlet them, Dayton was one of three pro-trans rights experts allowed to speak, and she stressed that in her experience, patients with gender dysphoria symptoms did indeed have lower suicidal ideation and better quality of life thanks to gender-affirming health care, which varies from patient to patient.
Makes sense.
Curious about who else was scheduled to speak at the meeting? Well, as reported by Media Matters, one “expert” who was slated to speak in favor of the state’s anti-trans guidelines but dropped from the session was Dr. James Cantor, a psychologist who allegedly has a history of public advocacy for pedophiles. This includes advocating for pedophilia to be included in the LGBTQ+ umbrella and participation in the Prostasia Foundation, which works to destigmatize pedophiles. According to Media Matters, Cantor was removed from the witness list several days before the meeting took place, perhaps because Cantor’s views began recirculating online.
Whew. So what actually went on during the meeting?
According to Alejandra Caraballo, the board discussed the concept of a registry for trans people in the state, which is disturbing for obvious reasons. (Caraballo clarified in a follow-up tweet that this was not officially proposed or put into place, but the discussion itself is still mind-blowing.)
One speaker cited incorrect information about gender-affirming care and suicidality, saying that childhood gender dysphoria tends to go away.
“There’s no support for medical intervention for gender-confused minors,” he states. “Medical procedures do not reduce youth suicide. Childhood gender dysphoria usually dissipates by adulthood. And the dramatic increase in gender dysphoria of the recent past is likely driven by social factors. My recommendation to the rules committee is that cross-sex medical and surgical treatment should not be supported by organized medicine, the Board of Medicine, or insurance companies.”
People in the crowd started yelling out, “Lies!” Because, well, they’re right.
As Daily Kos has continued to cover, gender-affirming care is life-saving care. Gender-affirming care is backed by all major medical associations, including The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Medical Association, the American Counseling Association, the American Public Health Association, and many, many more. There’s even an extremely recent study on just how many people who receive gender-affirming care, like puberty blockers and hormonal therapies, as teens stop that treatment as adults.
A whopping 2% of study participants stopped the treatment. Another way of putting this: 98% continued. And we don’t know why those folks stopped—if it was an access issue, a financial burden, individual health complications, or something else entirely.
Erin Reed tweeted that the hearing was cut early, and activists were told to “email them.”
Here’s that clip where you can hear people’s disappointment and confusion at the news.
“You’ll be the last speaker for the day,” a person on the committee said, which immediately resulted in outbursts from the audience.
“Don’t shout,” he continued. “You’re not going to win.” He added that people would be provided with an email for the state of Florida and that whatever information people send in would be on the record.
“There’s blood on your hands,” one person chanted while people clapped in support.
“That’s okay,” he said. “Let’s have some decency and decorum here.”
Decency and decorum, while stripping people of their basic rights and dignities, hmm. OK.
Per Axios health care reporter Oriana González, the committee ultimately voted in favor of banning gender-affirming care for trans youth in Florida, and the full board will vote on the rule next Friday, which is also when they would decide the date this would go into effect, per Caraballo.
According to them, committee chair Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah announced the motion to craft the rule passed but did not give a specific vote tally.
Per NBC News reporter Jo Yurcaba, there are exceptions for people who are intersex as well as people involved in certain clinical trials. There are also exceptions for people who want or need these treatments for reasons that don’t have to do with gender.
And to loop all of this into the bigger picture, the Florida Board of Medicine has until December to complete the guidelines for the Florida Department of Health; the Board started the process in August in order to form guidelines that align with the state’s health department.
So, if you’re thinking all of this goes back to DeSantis and his anti-queer brigade, you’re absolutely right.
You can watch a brief clip of coverage and interviews below.
Abortion has been the number one topic for campaign ads this year, so we're talking with veteran ad maker Kelly Grace Gibson, the founder of the women-led Stronger Than Comms, about how Democrats are pressing their advantage on this episode of The Downballot. Gibson walks us through the nuts and bolts of how ads actually get made; how Democrats have shown unusual message discipline on abortion while simultaneously tailoring their messages to different audiences; and why she has hope for some progressive candidates and ballot measures even in difficult states.
