Florida Takes a Chapter From Nazi Germany
New Bills in Florida Target at Banning All Transgender Care, Denying The Ability to Use a Bathroom, and Removing Transgender Children From Their Parents
The language and content of these bills filed in the Florida State House and Senate may disturb some transgender people. I feel it is essential to share this information so everyone may be aware of the discrimination. Please proceed cautiously and have self-care plans if and when you need them. If you are in crisis, please get in touch with the Trevor Project, dial 988, or another crisis helpline.
With all the anti-transgender legislation tracking through state legislatures across the country, Florida seemed eerily quiet on this front for a long time. That trend took a 180-degree turn on Friday. As he promised, Randy Fine, the self-described inexperienced chair of the Health & Human Services Committee, filed two discriminatory anti-trans bills. Additionally, two similar bills were introduced in the State Senate, plus a bathroom ban. These bills demonstrate the steps the GOP is initiating to carry out the plan described in CPAC of eradicating Transgender People.
The first bill HB 1421: Gender Clinical Interventions, is one of the most restrictive and discriminatory in the country. It relabels and redefines Gender Affirming Care by inventing the term Gender Clinical Interventions and defining it as:
"gender clinical interventions" means procedures or therapies that alter internal or external physical traits. (a) The term includes, but is not limited to: 1. Sex reassignment surgeries or any other surgical procedures that alter primary or secondary sexual characteristics. 2. Puberty blocking, hormone, and hormone antagonistic therapies.
This language change confirms this bill is designed to dehumanize TGD people and is used to prohibit any treatment for anyone under 18. It does not include any exception for minors already receiving Gender Affirming Care, thus cruelly detransitioning them.
This bill prohibits a person from correcting the gender on their birth certificate to reflect their gender identity. Proper identification is essential to every person, and denying a correction to reflect a person’s gender identity and gender expression can and will endanger the safety and lives of transgender individuals.
This bill continues beyond restricting Gender Affirming Care to youth to harshly restricting access for adults to Gender Affirming Care by requiring the physician to:
Obtain a signed informed consent form for each treatment.
Maintain liability coverage for 30 years beyond the patients’ treatment to allow for the extended litigation period.
It also threatens to revoke the license of physicians yet allows any healthcare individual, whether a physician, nurse, or other clinical personnel, to refuse to provide gender-affirming care without consequence.
This bill restricts health insurance coverage by banning it for minors and health maintenance contracts. It forbids hospitals, educational institutions, individuals, or entities that receive public funding from using any funds for gender-affirming care.
In the Senate, a similar bill was introduced. SB 254: Treatments for Sex Reassignment rejects gender and defines “sex” as:
the classification of a person as either male or female based on the organization of the human body of such person for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the person’s sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and external genitalia present at birth.
It then continues to redefine gender-affirming care as “Sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures” and describes them as:
1. The prescription or administration of puberty blockers for the purpose of attempting to stop or delay normal puberty in order to affirm a person’s perception of his or her sex if that perception is inconsistent with the person’s sex
2. The prescription or administration of hormones or hormone antagonists to affirm a person’s perception of his or her sex if that perception is inconsistent with the person’s sex
3. Any medical procedure, including a surgical procedure, to affirm a person’s perception of his or her sex if that perception is inconsistent with the person’s sex
SB 254 refers to the life-saving medical care nearly every major medical association recommended as “serious physical harm.”
This bill prohibits care for transgender youth under 18, but it does allow youth already receiving gender-affirming care to continue with that care. It would eliminate telehealth and virtual appointments for adults by requiring a physician to be “physically present in the same room” while obtaining informed consent for any eligible patient. Providing life-saving care to anyone under 18 who has not already begun gender-affirming care before the bill’s effective date would be a first-degree felony. It would be a third-degree felony for physicians to make an error in consent or care for anyone over 18.
This bill also authorizes kidnapping children and transporting them across state lines, which would be a federal charge if there is a “belief” that they may receive gender-affirming care.
Nearly every major medical association, including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Pediatric Endocrine Society, and many others, recommend and endorse gender-affirming care, including for youth. When positions attempt to practice medicine, they endanger the lives of people seeking the care they ban.
Two identical newly introduced bills, HB 1423 and SB 1438: Protection of Children, are Florida’s version of Drag bans. While they do not specifically mention Drag Performances, they go after establishments where a minor may be exposed to an adult live performance by fining the venue $5,000 for the first offense, $10,000 for the second, and the possibility of revocation of their license. These bills define an adult performance as follows:
Any show, exhibition, or other presentation in front of a live audience which, in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, specific sexual activities as those terms are defined in s. 847.001, lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts when it:
1. Predominantly appeals to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest;
2. Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community of this state as a whole with respect to what is suitable material or conduct for the age of the child present;
3. Taken as a whole, is without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for the age of the child present.
While these bills do not specifically mention drag performances, some venues have already canceled scheduled events out of fear of the vague language. The governor is already attempting to revoke the license of the Orlando Philharmonic for a drag show that occurred in December, even though there is no proof minors were present at the event.
Lastly, SB 1674: Facility Requirements Based on Sex is Florida’s Bathroom ban which defines “female” by the production of eggs and “male” by the production of sperm and limits them to at the time of birth. This would charge a person with a second-degree misdemeanor and could fine the facility for infractions. This would also require incarcerated transgender people to be housed with members of their gender assigned at birth regardless of identity, identification, or any medical procedures they may have had. This means a transgender man with complete gender-affirming surgery would be housed with women. Conversely, a transgender woman with total gender-affirming surgery would be housed with men.
Bills like these are falsely introduced under the guise of protecting cisgender people (people that are not transgender), especially women. This is a misogynistic and transphobic ploy of again “othering” and villainizing transgender people. It attempts to decrease women to a weaker status needing protection. While it is estimated that 1 in 6 women have experienced sexual assault, the rate of sexual abuse or assault against transgender people is far greater, with 1 in 2 having been victims. Forcing transgender individuals to use facilities that do not align with their identity will result in more crimes against them.
Over the weekend, Republicans pounded their chests at CPAC, describing their conservative plans for the country. It was made abundantly clear they plan to eradicate transgender people. These bills are that plan in action. Most of these bills will pass with a GOP supermajority in the State government. We can hope they are stopped in the courts, but in the meantime, everyone needs to speak out. If you know someone that is transgender, it you support LGBTQ+ rights, especially if you are a cisgender ally, if you value freedom and democracy over fascism and authoritarianism, speak out. Write to your representatives, share this information with your friends, and stand with us at protests. If you do not stand against this genocide, it will continue to the next group.
I'd rather die trying to take them down than die giving them what they want. We won't have a better chance. ~ Cassian Andor