A federal judge has blocked Florida’s restrictions on puberty blocking drugs and opposite-sex hormones for minors.
Judge Robert Hinkle, a senior judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, blocked the protections in a ruling issued on June 11. Judge Hinkle was nominated to the court by former President Bill Clinton in 1996.
The judge blocked rules adopted by the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine in November 2022 protecting sexually confused minors from experimental and damaging puberty blocking drugs, opposite sex hormones and surgeries. The Boards subsequently strengthened those rules in February 2023.
These rules were subsequently codified into state law on May 17, 2023, after the Florida legislature approved the bill (SB 254) and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law.
Judge Hinkle also blocked Florida regulations, enacted as a part of SB 254, that created stricter requirements for adults to give voluntary, informed consent to receive “sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures.” The legislation also permitted only doctors to prescribe “medicine” for transgender medical interventions.
The judge did not address the law’s ban on surgeries; the plaintiffs did not challenge that provision of the law.
Judge Hinkle’s decision is shockingly opiniated. He asserts that SB 254 is “unconstitutional” and compared disagreement with modern gender ideology to “racism” and “misogyny.”
The judge made the comments under a section of his ruling entitled: “Gender identity is real.”
“From some, the denial that transgender identity is real – the opposition to transgender individuals and to their freedom to live their lives – is not different in kind or intensity from the animus that has attended racism and misogyny,” the judge wrote.
“Some transgender opponents invoke religion to support their position, just as some once invoked religion to support their racism or misogyny,” the judge added.
“Transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs. But they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender. In time, discrimination against transgender individuals will diminish, just as racism and misogyny have diminished.”
One could be forgiven for asking: were these comments made by a federal judge tasked with the impartial and fair administration of justice? Or were they made by a leftist transgender activist?
In response to the judge’s inflammatory comments, two things should be made clear.
First, gender identity is not real. The idea originated in the 1950s when Dr. John Money coined the term “gender identity” and argued that sex (being male or female) and gender (a psychological or spiritual condition) can be differentiated.
But there is no such thing as “gender identity” or a “transgender person.” And one’s gender cannot be separated from one’s sex – the two go together.
Humans are “sexually dimorphic,” meaning all human beings exist as one of two sexes – male or female; each person’s sexed body is immutable and determined at conception. No amount of drugs or surgeries can change this reality.
Now, there are some individuals who genuinely struggle with gender dysphoria – a sensation that one is in the wrong body. But this is a psychological condition; it does not make someone “transgender.”
For more information, check out our free resource: What is “Gender Identity”?
Second, protecting children from body damaging drugs and surgeries is not in any way akin to racism or misogyny. To make that comparison is as insulting as it is wrong.
Judge Hinkle repeated cited the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care as “well-established standards of care for treatment of gender dysphoria.”
However, the Daily Citizen previously reported on a devastating exposé of the organization was recently released, The WPATH Files, showing “the world-leading transgender healthcare group is neither scientific nor advocating for ethical medical care.”
In response to the ruling, Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, said the state of Florida will appeal the ruling.
“Through their elected representatives, the people of Florida acted to protect children in this state, and the Court was wrong to override their wishes,” Redferd said. “We disagree with the Court’s erroneous rulings on the law, on the facts, and on the science.”
He added:
As we’ve seen here in Florida, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, there is no quality evidence to support the chemical and physical mutilation of children. These procedures do permanent, life-altering damage to children, and history will look back on this fad in horror.
Under Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida will continue to fight to ensure children are not chemically or physically mutilated in the name of radical, new age “gender ideology.” We will appeal this ruling.
Any eventual appeal will likely be heard by a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; the appeals court leans conservative, with seven judges nominated by Republican presidents, compared to five Democrat nominees.
The ruling comes after the Daily Citizen, just last week, reported that the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) released a declaration calling on all clinical professionals to stop promoting puberty blocking drugs, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries.
“Medical decision making should respect biological reality and the dignity of the person by compassionately addressing the whole person,” the declaration contends.
Children deserve to be protected from radical gender ideology which falsely claims they can be born in the wrong body.
Please pray that Florida’s regulations and law protecting children from irreversible puberty blocking drugs and opposite-sex hormones are upheld on appeal. Because each human person was specially created by God – male or female.
The case is Jane Doe v. Joseph Ladapo.
Focus on the Family exists to help families, and that includes help navigating the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism. Focus offers a free, one-time counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor. To request a counseling consultation, call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) or fill out our Counseling Consultation Request Form.
Related articles and resources:
Counseling Consultation & Referrals
Addressing Gender Identity with Honesty and Compassion
The Journey Back to My True Identity
Florida Medical Boards Affirm Ban on Experimental Medical Procedures for Sexually Confused Minors
Florida Protects Children, Bans Experimental ‘Trans’ Procedures on Minors
Pediatrics Organization Urges Their Peers to Cease Harming Children
Photo from Getty Images.
