Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis loves to be a hater. If he can stomp down on a historically marginalized and oppressed community in order to garner more votes (or sweeten his position to run for president) he’s pretty clearly going to dig his heels into it as much as he can possibly muster. That DeSantis is governor of Florida is especially frustrating, as we all know it is a state with rampant voter suppression efforts; it feels like every cycle, we hope against hope we can finally flip Florida, and alas. The system to suppress votes works just as it was designed to, and the Republican hold stays.
And, as Daily Kos continues to cover, everyone is affected by conservative extremists in power—including and especially those who aren’t able to vote. Florida is heading the anti-queer path with its Don't Say Gay bill (signed into law by DeSantis himself), as well as its Critical Race Theory (CRT) hysteria and book bans. Some of these initiatives are new (and clearly part of the national fodder from groups like Moms for Liberty), but some are old guidelines being repurposed for fresh exclusion and control.
One example: tracking the menstrual cycles of student-athletes. In public schools. According to local outlet NBC 2, the Florida High School Athletic Association has been asking students assigned female at birth this question for years, but it’s faced well-deserved criticism as being an invasion of privacy. Questions about menstrual cycles have technically been optional, but are nonetheless pointless to include. They’re also extremely concerning when we look at what other information the DeSantis information wants from students—including a recent effort to see the details on who is receiving gender-affirming care at public colleges and universities in the state, per Politico.
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As some background, questions about menstruation tend to be framed as when the student’s first period was, their most recent period, and how long their cycles last. Questions appropriate to discuss with your medical professional, sure. But there’s no reason school athletic associations need it. And especially not when folks are increasingly concerned about anti-abortion efforts and period tracking systems that could be used against folks seeking abortions or even experiencing pregnancy loss.
“What is going to happen with that information?” State Senator Lori Berman, who wants to amend state laws to minimize information like this going to state officials, said, according to the outlet. “Who is going to have access to it? It’s really not anyone’s business.”
Also not anyone’s business: Who receives gender-affirming health care, period. But the DeSantis administration is still trying to get its hands into such private medical information, per local outlet WPTV. This information would be sent to trustee chairs of university boards for the state.
The DeSantis administration has issued a request to a dozen universities in the state to figure out how many folks have received gender-affirming care, including hormonal therapy, at campus clinics. They’re also seeking to see how many folks have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
And to be clear, while many folks who receive gender-affirming care do live with gender dysphoria (with the idea being that appropriate care can decrease levels of dysphoria), not everyone who lives with dysphoria seeks those transition options. Put another way: Folks who live with gender dysphoria might not publicly transition or seek medical intervention for any number of reasons (safety, cost, access, and so on) but may seek mental health support and a diagnosis.
And somehow, DeSantis wants to know even that.
The survey—which reportedly instructs those filling them out to protect students’ identities, whatever that means—asks for the number of folks who received or sought out gender-affirming surgeries, including mastectomies, genital reconstructions, and others, in addition to hormonal therapies. The survey seeks this information for students over the age of 18—meaning students who are legal adults, not minors. It also asks for information about students who sought such care and received a referral elsewhere. The memo asks for information from the last five years and for responses to be returned by Feb. 10.
“We can see cuts in funding for universities to treat students with this condition,” House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell said, according to the Associated Press. “And I think an all-out elimination of services is certainly on the table.”
Driskell went on to say she’s worried about a possible “brain drain” of folks leaving Florida for out-of-state education in response to this clear invasion of privacy and overreach.
What don’t we know is why DeSantis wants this information (though, here at Daily Kos, we can probably make a few solid guesses, all of which are terrifying), or what might face employees who provide such care. It’s also not clear how this process could impact members of the general public who seek university clinic or hospital care but are not associated with the school—a resident or someone who travels far for treatment but is not a student, faculty, etc.
These attacks on bodily autonomy should scare all of us—and encourage us to mobilize voters and show up for one another as an inclusive community. When one person’s bodily autonomy is under attack, it’s a ripple effect for all of us, trans or not.