Florida - Tuesday June 6, 2023: A federal judge has temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers.
In a ruling on Tuesday the Judge said, in part, that gender identity is real and the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.
Judge Robert Hinkle issued a preliminary injunction, saying three transgender children can continue receiving treatment. The lawsuit challenges the law DeSantis signed shortly before he announced a run for president.
“Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” Hinkle said, adding that even a witness for the state agreed.
Hinkle's ruling was narrowly focused on the three children whose parents brought the suit.
The three children in the lawsuit will “suffer irreparable harm” if they cannot begin puberty blockers, Hinkle said. "The treatment will affect the patients themselves, nobody else, and will cause the defendants no harm,” Hinkle said.
Attention on the new law has focused on language involving minors, and Hinkle's ruling focuses on the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. The lawsuit doesn't address other language that makes it difficult to near impossible for adults to receive or continue gender-affirming care.
Banning treatment for minors ignores risks patients might face, Hinkle said. “There are risks attendant to not using these treatments, including the risk — in some instances, the near certainty — of anxiety and depression and even suicidal ideation. The challenged statute ignores the benefits that many patients realize from these treatments and the substantial risk posed by foregoing the treatments,” Hinkle said.
He also noted that hormone treatments and puberty blockers are often used to treat non-transgender children for other conditions, so the law makes their use legal for some, but not for others.
The governor's office didn't immediately reply to an email seeking comment.