Florida board of medicine votes to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors

The Florida Board of Medicine has voted to ban gender-affirming care for minors.

Ignoring guidance from national medical agencies such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, the board voted in favour of drafting a rule that will essentially ban transition care for transgender youths, NBC reported.

The decision was met with protests at the Orlando Internation Airport, where the meeting was held. Activists staged a “die-in” and lay on the floor with the transgender flag and signs mimicking tombstones which read, “Killed by the state” and “HRT (Home Replacement Therapy) taken away.”

The measure follows guidance by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and the Florida Health Department that cited a report stating that “80 per cent of those seeking clinical care will lose their desire to identify with the nonbirth sex.”

Experts who opposed the ban raised concerns about that study during the five-hour deliberation hearing, arguing that it had not been conducted by health professionals with expertise in transgender care.

“Neither of the authors of the state’s review is a subject matter expert,” Dr Meredithe McNamara, an assistant professor of paediatrics at Yale, said.

“One individual is a dentist. The other is a post-doctoral fellow in biostatistics. At a bare minimum, the systematic review should be conducted by those who are qualified to assess the literature. I wouldn’t trust a dermatologist review of the literature on a neurosurgical procedure, for instance.”

Desantis and Ladapo’s guidance was issued in April, and stated that “hormonal treatments for transgender adolescents can achieve their intended physical effects, but evidence regarding their psychosocial and cognitive impact is generally lacking.”

The American Psychological Association and the National Association of School Psychologists have supported gender-affirming care for children and teens.

Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ findings that bills banning transgender care ultimately hurt patients, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration released a report that found that gender dysphoria treatments “are experimental and investigational with the potential for harmful long-term effects.”

DeSantis asked the Sunshine State’s medical board to act on the report, which was released just two months after his guidance.

The vote on Friday came days after another report by another state agency discouraged Medicaid coverage for transgender people of any age.

DeSantis, who has hinted at a run for president in 2024, has unleashed a series of bills targeting transgender individuals.

In June, the Republican firebrand signed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which banned transgender girls and women from joining sports teams according to the gender they identify with.

“In Florida, girls are going to play girl’s sports and boys are going to play boy’s sports,” DeSantis said at the time.

Earlier this year, DeSantis also signed into law a controversial piece of legislation aimed at restricting schools in Florida from teaching students about sexual orientation and gender issues, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”