Anti-trans organizations have said that their position against gender affirming care center on "protecting kids." Now, a Florida judge has allowed them to proceed with their next target: trans adults.
Several weeks ago, a federal judge in Florida halted a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, declaring it likely unconstitutional. Yet, transgender adults were also heavily impacted by the law: 80% of gender-affirming care providers for trans adults in the state were forced to stop. Consequently, many found themselves forced to flee the state, temporarily or permanently, in order to access care. Those forced to stay clung to the hope that the provisions targeting them might also be overruled. However, those hopes suffered a setback when the 11th Circuit Court determined that discriminating against transgender individuals in healthcare would be allowed, at least in the short term. Relying on this verdict, the Florida Judge Monday declined to block the sections affecting trans adult care. Now, the precedent has been set for adult care bans, a stark contradiction to some anti-trans activists' assurances that their sole aim was to "protect children."
Earlier this year, Florida passed SB254. The bill did not only prohibit gender-affirming care for transgender youth, but also casted stringent requirements for care on trans adults. Specifically, the laws bars nurse practitioners from administering care and mandates that providers distribute inaccurate medical forms, laden with misleading narratives, suggesting treatments are experimental. This was a substantial change, as the vast amount of trans adult care is provided by nurse practitioners. A representative from a clinic in the state, SPEKTRUM Health, estimated that 80% of such care would be affected. Further, the new informed consent form dictates a pre-requisite of "social support" before a trans individual embarks on care, despite many trans adults losing social support from their families after they transition. Though the initial discussion centered on the effect of the bill on trans youth, trans adults across the state suddenly saw their prescriptions dropped by their providers as a result.
I couldn’t agree more. But for what it’s worth I think there are people who are angry and motivated and willing to take it to the bastards. Every era also has its folk heroes. Is it enough? Maybe not. Maybe the added element of cooking ourselves has tipped the scales into an unrecoverable tailspin, but at least there will always be people who will never stop trying to pull us out of the dive. Even as the challenger broke up as it re entered the atmosphere based on the position of certain controls they could tell that the pilot never stopped trying to recover the aircraft even as it broke up around him.
I’m about to crack what is probably the halfway point of my life, adjusted for delicious plastic intake and the inevitable 6 cancers I’ll develop of course, but I won’t stop fighting to try and make the world slightly less shit and slightly more hospitable for the youth who will follow behind me once I eventually eat shit.
The thing is, there are people who do the right thing solely because they can and you can’t convince them to do otherwise. It’s a choice and any person can make it. And so long as those people exist, there’s always going to be someone willing to at least try to stomp this bullshit out.