On Friday, the Florida Board of Medicine voted to ban so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ for minors.
The ban would cover puberty blockers, hormones, and gender transition surgeries for people under 18 years old.
Expert testimony from medical professionals and people who have detransitioned bolstered claims that many transgender youths come to regret taking puberty blockers or getting gender transition surgeries, which was the core argument of the Florida Board of Medicine in banning the treatments.
Big day for Florida. Grateful to see these detransitioners here to share their stories. Media generally pretends they don’t exist. @ShifterofShapes story (gay man from Eastern Europe pressured into transgender surgery by internalized homophobia) https://t.co/a6K9rQMeCn https://t.co/4iaSAY0wzx
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) October 28, 2022
After experts testified, commentary was allowed from the general public, with some people speaking loudly in opposition to the decision and others speaking in support of it.
Dr. Michael Laidlaw, an endocrinologist in Rockland, California, spoke out against giving ‘gender-affirming care’ to minors. He cited research that found that most minors who believe they are transgender change their mind by the time they become adults.
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“The basic problem with this treatment as I see it is: ‘What happens when you force a square peg into a round hole?'” he said. “You end up injuring or destroying the peg in the process.”
Chloe Cole, who detransitioned at 18, said she began transitioning at 12, receiving a double mastectomy at 15. At 16, she said she realized she regretted her transition.
“All the talk about mental health, self perception, pronouns, and ideology leads me to the question, why is a mental health epidemic not being addressed with mental health treatment to get at the root causes for why female adolescents like me want to reject their bodies?” Cole said.
“My breasts were beautiful, now they’ve been incinerated for nothing. Thank you, modern medicine.” My public comment at the Florida Board of Medicine meeting in Orlando today. pic.twitter.com/NUuouffjqM
— Chloe Cole ⭐️ (@ChoooCole) October 28, 2022
Another person who detransitioned claimed that it is ‘unethical’ for doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and hormones to minors after giving their own story that made them realize they were not transgender.
Florida medical board BANS puberty blockers for minors under the age of 18 — after hearing testimony from 'de-transitioners'
The Florida Board of Medicine has voted to ban 'gender affirming care' for transgender teenagers in the state.https://t.co/qFtu0Ub3H4 pic.twitter.com/U5Gz72abkr— And We Know (8:28) 🇺🇸 (@andweknow) October 29, 2022
A Convention of States Action and Trafalgar Group poll found that an overwhelming majority of Americans support banning hormone blockers, hormones, and gender transition surgeries for minors, with 78.7% saying they should wait until adulthood.
Still, some people were not happy about the decision.
One Harvard Law School faculty member called the new proposed law ‘downright dystopian’ after lamenting that Florida also prevented male-to-female transgender youth from competing with female athletes.
Florida passed a law to ban transgender athletes. They are now enforcing it by requiring female athletes to track their menstrual cycles and report it to the school and a 3rd party company called Aktivate.
This is downright dystopian.https://t.co/fPDOsf2IhT pic.twitter.com/D6j4Kzb7cR
— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) October 4, 2022
Another Twitter user took it further, claiming that Florida is trying to ‘commit genocide’ against transgender people.
Dayum💔💔💔
The Florida Board of Medicine just voted to forcibly detransition all transgender teenagers in the state and they want to create a registry for all transgender people in the state.This is genocide happening right out in plain sight.
This is horrifying.
— Marie Willa Bobo-Smith (@Marie_W_B_Smith) October 28, 2022
During the Florida Gubernatorial debate last week, Governor DeSantis asked Democratic nominee Charlie Crist if he supported transition surgeries and hormones for transgender youth. Crist refused to respond.
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