Why are Florida and its governor trying so hard to harm trans people? | Opinion

The past several months have been rough for transgender people in Florida.

For trans Floridians like myself, it’s been a time of sudden escalation and violent rhetoric against us; a time of people self-righteously calling us “groomers;” a time of many of us, especially the Black members of our community, being threatened with physical violence and even being assaulted.

Florida Gov. DeSantis has been at the forefront of this hateful rhetoric. From the legislation commonly known as the “Don’t say gay” bill to directing the state to cease Medicaid coverage for all gender-affirming healthcare, even for adults, our governor seems to have a personal vendetta against queer Floridians, especially transgender people.

His latest plan of attack against the trans community has been to direct the state surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, to request that Florida’s Board of Medicine implement new standards of care for treating gender dysphoria that bans all gender-affirming treatment for minors, including social transition, as well as requiring adults undergoing gender-affirming treatment to sign waivers that try to dissuade them from the treatment.

It’s important to note that, before DeSantis appointed him in 2021, Ladapo had no background in public health. He is also a member of the fringe medical group America’s Frontline Doctors, a group that is vehemently opposed to COVID-19 restrictions, including vaccination.

The justification for the latest push against trans healthcare is a report compiled by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and sent to the Florida Department of Health to use as justification to ban the treatment.

The report, however, doesn’t stand up under serious scrutiny and ignores established science. To quote a rebuttal written by a law professor, along with three Ph.D. child and adolescent psychologists and four physicians who treat transgender minors daily:

“. . . the June 2 AHCA report instead relies on biased and discredited sources, journalism, blog entries, and letters to the editor. Of note, the ‘experts’ commissioned by the AHCA have undisclosed conflicts of interest, and some have been disqualified as experts in litigation . . . So repeated and fundamental are the errors in the June 2 report that it seems clear that the report is not a serious scientific analysis but, rather, a document crafted to serve a political agenda.”

Gender-affirming treatment is approved by every single major medical association in the United States, including the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the Endocrine Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.

Banning gender-affirming treatment likely violates laws against sex discrimination in Florida. Note that there is no minimum age for a cisgender boy to receive a mastectomy to treat gynecomastia in Florida. However, the exact same surgery, when done on a transgender boy younger than 18, would be illegal under the proposed rules. The only difference in this case is the birth sex of the client.

It might be worth asking: why is gender-affirming treatment acceptable for cisgender people, but not for transgender people?

The adoption of these rules will be discussed at an upcoming Florida Board of Medicine meeting at 8 a.m. Aug. 5 at the Marriott Fort Lauderdale Airport. Public comments can be made on a walk-in basis, with registration at the front door. It may be the last chance the public has to take a stand on these rules before they harm tens of thousands of trans children in Florida.

Perhaps DeSantis should take a page from Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox:

“Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what [transgender kids] are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live. And all the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly.”

May Márquez is a transgender advocate. Her website is maymarquez.com.