The Florida Legislature passed a bill Thursday that would punish doctors who perform gender transition surgeries and related procedures on minors, Politico reported.
“If you have a minor child, you shouldn’t be doing sex reassignment surgery. You shouldn’t be doing puberty blockers. That’s wrong, and we’re glad we stopped that in the state of Florida.” say Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said during a press conference Friday.
“It’s wrong to sexualize these kids. It’s wrong to have a gender ideology and tell kids they may have been born with the wrong body. So we’re on the right side,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis, who requested the bill and is expected to sign it, was typically blunt when addressing a reporter’s question about the thorny issue.
“People in your industry will dress it up as a euphemism and say it’s health care to cut off a 14- or 15-year-old’s private parts,” DeSantis began.
“This is not health care. This is mutilation,” he said, gesturing for emphasis.
“When we stand up, we are protecting these children,” he said, to applause.
u201cMIR: DeSantis interrupts reporter on child sex transitionnn”Really?… I know people in your industry will put a euphemism on this and say it’s ‘healthcare’ to cut off private parts. of a 14- or 15-year-old. That’s not health care, that’s mutilation.”u201d
— Voice of Florida (@Voice of Florida) 1683303021
The bill codifies measures taken by the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine to address gender transition for minors. It also prohibits adults from being prescribed the same type of controversial procedures via telemedicine and prevents state funds from being used to cover the costs, the New York Times reported.
According to Politico, an earlier version of Florida’s SB 254 aimed to prevent private insurance companies from funding the controversial procedures for anyone and also sought to eliminate gender changes on birth certificates. None of these provisions made it into the final bill.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Randy Fine (R), told the company that those provisions could still be passed in future legislative sessions.
At the same press conference, DeSantis detailed how Chloe Cole and others who underwent gender transition procedures as children are now speaking out bravely to warn others that it was the “deepest regret of their lives” and that they felt manipulated.
“People go through a lot when they’re teenagers. You grow out of it. . . . 80, 90 percent of it is resolved by the time you get there,” DeSantis said.
He then outlined some of the procedures the legislation prohibits, including double mastectomies on physically healthy girls.
If Governor DeSantis signs the bill, Florida will join at least 13 other states that have recently restricted the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender reassignment surgeries for minors, the New York Times.
Watch the full press conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) below. A section addressing gender transition procedures for minors begins at 37:55.
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