Florida Protects Children, Bans Experimental ‘Trans’ Procedures on Minors

The Florida Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine have voted to protect children from harmful and experimental “trans” procedures including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and “sex change” surgeries.

The decision prohibits these damaging procedures from being performed on any minors under the age of 18.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo praised the decision from the two boards.

“Today’s vote from the Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine will protect our children from irreversible surgeries and highly experimental treatments,” Ladapo said. “I appreciate the integrity of the Boards for ruling in the best interest of children in Florida despite facing tremendous pressure to permit these unproven and risky treatments.”

“Children deserve to learn how to navigate this world without harmful pressure, and Florida will continue to fight for kids to be kids,” Ladapo added.

Recently, the Daily Citizen reported on several of the individuals who testified before the Joint Rules/Legislative Committee of the boards, including several “detransitioners” who spoke about how so-called “gender affirming” procedures have harmed them.

Chloe Cole testified that she started taking puberty blockers and testosterone at age 13, and then underwent a double mastectomy when she was just 15. She came to regret her decisions just one year later at age 16.

She asked the following question:

Why is a mental health epidemic not being addressed with mental health treatment to get at the root causes of why, female adolescents like me, want to reject their bodies?

In addition, Dr. Michael Laidlaw, a specialist in endocrinology, told the committee, “It’s important to note that studies have shown that desistance, or growing out of this condition of children, by adulthood, is very high. It’s some 50 to 98%.”

The Sunshine State is often viewed as the perennial “swing state” when it comes to elections. In fact, elections in Florida are frequently some of the most hard-fought, and most closely decided of all 50 states.

In the 2000 presidential election, for example, former President George W. Bush beat Al Gore by just 537 votes out of the nearly 6 million cast.

But in the past several years, it seems Florida has turned into Texas. This news from the Boards of Medicine is just one such example.

And there’s a lesson here.

Most Americans, despite what the media may say, still have commonsense. And the vast majority of Americans do not want minors to be able to undergo experimental and harmful so-called “sex change” procedures. No one can actually change their sex because it is found in every cell of our bodies.

A recent poll from the Trafalgar Group found that 79% of Americans believe that underage minors should be required to wait until they are adults to use puberty blockers and undergo permanent “sex change” procedures.

There’s an oft used line from the 1989 classic movie Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.”

In this case, Florida has proven that if our elected officials and state agencies lead, the American people will follow.