On Friday, the Florida Board of Medicine voted to draft a rule that would prohibit all minors in the state from receiving transgender health care, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.
During a five-hour meeting, members of the board heard testimonies about the impact of transgender health care. Some of those who spoke are those who began to transition to the opposite gender and later de-transitioned (via NBC News):
The first nine attendees who spoke were in favor of restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Eight of them said they have detransitioned, or come to identify with their assigned sex at birth after having previously identified as trans. Only one of the eight had received gender-affirming medical care as a minor.
Chloe Cole, who described herself as an 18-year-old detransitioned female from California, said she began transitioning at 12 and received a double mastectomy at 15. At 16, she said, she realized she regretted her transition.
“All the talk about mental health, self perception, pronouns and ideology leads me to the question, why is a mental health epidemic not being addressed with mental health treatment to get at the root causes for why female adolescents like me want to reject their bodies?” Cole said.
By the end of the meeting, some protestors staged a “die-in” in the lobby of the Orlando International Airport, where the meeting was held, according to NBC News.
One of the arguments used by those who are pro-transgender care for minors is that they will commit suicide if they do not have access to this treatment, which often comes as a result of gender dysphoria. This method of protesting has been used before, such as back in August when the Florida Medical Board was convening around the same subject.
Die-in underway outside the Florida Medical Board meeting today in Dania Beach where DeSantis is seeking to ban gender affirming care for trans youth and create waiting periods for adults. pic.twitter.com/k7tMCxsrjy
— Miami Against Fascism 🎃🧟 (@MIAagainstFash) August 5, 2022
During Friday’s meeting, Jude Spiegel, a transgender person, read the names of over 40 trans teens who died by suicide.
In April, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo issued guidance through the Florida Department of Health against gender transitioning for minors, including “social” transitioning. Social transitioning can include going by preferred pronouns, a chosen name and wearing clothes of the opposite sex. The guidance came out shortly after the Biden administration released guidance promoting trans healthcare for minors, calling it “neither child maltreatment or malpractice.”
This month, England’s National Health Service announced that many transgender minors could be experiencing a “transient phase.” This announcement came after the NHS shared that its only dedicated gender clinic for minors would be shutting down “over a lack of consensus about how the health service should assess, diagnose and treat young people seeking gender services,” according to a report from Reuters.
Daily Mail reported that at least 15 children under the age of 4 were referred to the gender clinic over the past two years, and, in total, over 5,000. Reportedly, only half of the referrals were for people aged 15 and older.