The Associated Press.“When I’m analyzing the governor’s motivation, what should I make of these statements?” Hinkle asked. “This seems to be more than just hyperbole.”The restrictions on gender-affirming care were first enacted in March after the Florida Board of Medicine and Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine — at the urging of DeSantis, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, and the state Department of Health — approved rules to limit the accessibility of hormonal and surgical interventions.
DeSantis, who is currently seeking the Republican nomination for the presidency, subsequently signed a bill in May solidifying those rules into state law.
Under the law, known as SB 254, medical professionals are prohibited from providing gender-affirming treatments — such as puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, or surgery — to transgender minors.Three Florida families with transgender children subsequently sued Florida over those restrictions.
They argued that the law would harm their children by denying them access to treatments that would lessen or resolve their feelings of gender dysphoria.