July 2024 Update:
The 11th Circuit Court issued a stay on Judge Hinkle’s ruling. Restrictions on care for youth and adults are back in effect. If you have questions about care options, please request a free introductory appointment.
JUNE 2024 Update:
On June 11, 2024, Judge Hinkle ruled in the Florida District Court in the case Doe v. Ladapo and struck down the majority of restrictions on transgender medicine in Florida. We expect the ruling to be appealed, but for the moment, the specific restrictions that are no longer in place:
- prescriptions must be made by doctors (MDs, not physician assistants (PAs) or nurse practitioners (NPs)
- annual hand x-rays for youth
- DEXA scans for youth
- mandatory mental health assessments conducted only by a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist
- in-person visits every 6 months
- suicide assessments every 3 months for youth
- labs every 4 months for youth
- State-created consent forms for youth and adults
- the State cannot prosecute providers for any of the above
We are awaiting analysis regarding the status of the requirement for an in-person informed consent discussion.
Doe v. Ladapo – the trial challenging 254 – finished up on Thursday, December 21, 2023. We were hoping for a quick ruling, but it may take a while, and we don’t know when the ruling will be issued.
An AP news article published on December 22, 2023 remarked that Judge Hinkle, who also ruled that Florida Medicaid must cover gender affirming care in Dekker v. Weida, expressed skepticism that the state was sincere in their claim that laws restricting gender affirming care are protective measures rather than punitive ones. Florida is appealing the ruling in Dekker v. Weida.
A ruling in Doe v. Ladapo regarding Florida’s restrictions on gender affirming care for youth and adults is expected “sometime in the new year.”
Read the NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights) press release:
About Florida’s Ban on Transgender Medical Care
Florida’s adolescent transgender healthcare ban was first enacted in March 2023 through the adoption of rules by the state Board of Medicine and state Board of Osteopathic Medicine, at the urging of the Governor, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, and the state Department of Health. SB 254, which was passed by the legislature, signed by the governor and took effect in May 2023, cemented into state law the ban on essential medical care for transgender minors, subject to a narrow continued-use exception for minors who had started treatment before the ban. SB 254 also created felony criminal and civil penalties for medical providers.In addition, SB 254 added severe restrictions that effectively block access to essential medical care for transgender adults and transgender minors who would be eligible for the continued-use exception, including requiring that care be provided exclusively by physicians, barring telehealth, and requiring patients to complete unique, onerous and misleading consent forms.
The case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida on December 13, 14, and 21. The Court has certified two plaintiff classes in the case: all transgender adults in Florida who seek gender-transition medical care and all transgender minors in Florida who seek gender-transition medical care, and the parents of those minors. The Court also certified a subclass of the second class consisting of all transgender minors in Florida who are totally prohibited from receiving treatments because they did not initiate them before the effective dates of SB 254 and the BOM rules (and thus were not “grandfathered”), and are prohibited by state law from obtaining such care during puberty and adolescence.
NCLR Press Release, December 22, 2023
This Won’t Be The End Of 254, Unfortunately
If Judge Hinkle rules in the plaintiffs’ favor and blocks 254, the State of Florida will certainly appeal. Appeals from Florida District Courts go to the Eleventh Circuit Court, which also oversees federal cases in Alabama and Georgia.
Alabama’s ban on youth care was upheld by a federal appeals court in August, and the plaintiffs in that case have asked the full Eleventh Circuit Court to review that ruling. Should Judge Hinkle rule that Florida’s ban is unconstitutional, there will be two opposing rulings in front of the Eleventh Circuit Court. We may have a brief period of time where care restrictions are stopped by a ruling in the District Court and then restarted in the Circuit Court.
What Happens Next?
If 254 is blocked by Judge Hinkle, our providers who are licensed in Florida, but not currently practicing, will immediately open their schedules to Florida patients. We’ll see as many patients as we can while we can.
Traveling for care can also be an option: families can find support from us, STEYP, and Elevated Access.
We will continue to watch and post information as we see it!
More information on getting care at QueerDoc.
