Ron DeSantis Signs Four Bills Into Law Restricting LGBTQ+ Rights in Florida
The bills include an expansion of "don't say gay," a ban on gender-affirming care, restrictions on bathroom use, and restrictions on drag shows.
May 17, 2023
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The bills include an expansion of "don't say gay," a ban on gender-affirming care, restrictions on bathroom use, and restrictions on drag shows.
The legislation would ban hormone treatment, puberty blockers, and gender-confirmation surgery for minors.
Senate Bill 63 sought to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria while allowing the same treatments to continue for cisgender minors with other conditions.
The letter, which was sent to the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, attempts to use consumer protection laws to make it against the law to support puberty blockers.
The plaintiffs had sought to replace Steven Ohmer, and he agreed to step aside..
The Arkansas law legally prohibits medical professionals from offering gender-affirming health care to trans youth.
The law is the subject of a challenge in a case heard at the Supreme Court in December.
Government officials said the medication poses an "unacceptable safety risk," but study often referenced by British officials about the treatment has come under criticism.
The law, banning hormone treatment and puberty blockers as well as gender-affirming surgeries, was set to go into effect July 28.
Nancy Mace's political stunt targeting Sarah McBride's bathroom use comes just a year after Mace said "I'm pro-transgender rights. I'm pro-LGBTQ."
The news was heralded by LGBTQ+ activists, but the legislature could still override the veto with a simple majority.
The regulations were combined into one bill, which opponents say violates the state constitution's requirement for all bills to be single-subject.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, a moderate Democrat, vetoed a gender-affirming care ban, a "don't say LGBTQ+" bill, and a pronoun restriction bill.
The legislation, strongly opposed by Sens. Megan Hunt and Machaela Cavanaugh, will likely come to a final vote Thursday.
The state's Senate approved a bill Monday and the House had passed it earlier this month, so it now goes to Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
"The judgment upholds established legal principles which respect the ability of our clinicians to engage actively and thoughtfully with our patients in decisions about their care and futures."
The Sixth Circuit had ruled similarly in a case out of Tennessee.
These aren't final decisions on the bans, but they can't be enforced while lawsuits against them are heard.
The law bans most abortions after 12 weeks and restricts gender-affirming care for trans people under 19.
Legislators gave final approval to the ban Wednesday, and Gov. Greg Abbott has promised to sign it into law.
Alabama's law criminalizing the provision of gender-affirming care to minors "is absolutely appalling," Oliver said.