Transgender Drugs, Surgery for Kids Would Be Banned if Florida Bill Passes

A Florida lawmaker is pushing to ban gender reassignment surgery for minors, claiming the procedure defies "God and science."

GOP Florida Representative Randy Fine announced that he plans to introduce new legislation making it illegal to provide drugs or surgery to minors for gender assignment purposes. This is the latest effort to stifle the LGBTQ community, following the enactment of the "Don't Say Gay" law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis.

Fine said the proposed legislation will make it a felony for doctors to perform gender assignment surgery on minors, punishable by prison and loss of medical license. He said that the acts would be considered child abuse.

Fine told Newsweek that parents would be charged with felony child abuse as well.

"If an adult wants to self-mutilate in pursuit of the fiction they can defy God and science, more power to them—as they don't expect me to pay for it," Fine tweeted. "But no child should be put in the position of making life-altering decisions before they are of the age of majority."

The congressman went on to mock gender reassignment, saying he could declare himself a porcupine, but that doesn't make it true.

Fine's proposed bill follows a similar pattern already seen in other states.

The Arizona Senate voted to prohibit gender reassignment surgeries for minors in February. The bill bans the procedures for patients under age 18, except in cases of medical emergency or a verifiable sexual-development disorder.

Last month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered state child welfare officials to launch child abuse investigations into reports of transgender kids receiving gender-affirming healthcare. The probe came after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a legal opinion defining medical treatments for transgender youth adolescents—such as puberty blockers and hormone injections as child abuse and labeling gender-reassignment surgeries as "forced sterilization."

"These efforts to cut off and criminalize necessary health care for transgender minors are in direct conflict with the recommendations of medical professionals and have nothing to do with what's best for trans youth," said Chase Strangio, deputy director for trans justice with the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project in response to Abbott's investigation.

"They may be escalating, but these attacks are not new, he continued. "Trans youth need you to take the fury you have over what's happening in Texas and share it with lawmakers in every state that is trying to make it harder for trans youth to survive."

Findings from the 2019 Trevor Project National Survey show that 39 percent of LGBTQ youths have seriously considered attempting suicide, with more than half identifying as transgender. The study revealed that 29 percent of trans youth actually attempted suicide.

Newsweek reached out to the ACLU and Fine for additional comment.

For LGBTQ mental health support, call the Trevor Project's 24/7 toll-free support line at 866-488-7386. You can also reach a trained crisis counselor through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 800-273-8255 or texting 741741.