Federal Judge Rules Against Florida Anti-Trans Law

A federal judge in Florida has temporarily blocked parts of the state’s newly-passed anti-transgender law. The injunction came after his narrow ruling in favor of families fighting the ban on gender-affirming care for minors. https://twitter.com/AP/status/1666136936317169685 From the New York Times:

Though the ruling applied narrowly only to the three families that requested it, the judge wrote that the families were likely to succeed in having the law overturned, a statement that their lawyers said could have sweeping implications.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction in response to an emergency request by three Florida families. They and others had sued the state in March over an administrative ban on gender transition care for minors, and then widened their suit to take in the new law after Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed it on May 17.

“Gender identity is real,” Judge Hinkle wrote in his sharply worded ruling, adding that “proper treatment” includes mental health therapy that can be followed by hormone treatments and puberty blockers. “Florida has adopted a statute and rules that prohibit these treatments even when medically appropriate.”

Gov. DeSantis has spent much time and energy attacking the LGBTQ community in Florida over the past year. He was quite proud to sign the anti-trans legislation into law. Read the full report here. https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/1666087478657445889