Attorney General Ashley Moody has been dismissed without prejudice as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by seven families of transgender children alleging that Senate Bill (SB) 254 violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
SB 254, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 17, prohibits transgender minors from obtaining medical care for gender dysphoria.
“Ashley Moody filed a motion to dismiss saying she isn't a proper party, and we decided not to oppose that,” said Attorney Simone Chriss, director of the Transgender Rights Initiative at Southern Legal Counsel in Gainesville. “She is not a proper party because she doesn't intend on enforcing SB 254 and doesn't think she even has the authority to enforce it. So, ultimately, that's a positive thing.”
Chriss
| Southern Legal
Chriss represents the plaintiffs who are seeking a declaratory judgment from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The remaining defendants include Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, the Florida Board of Medicine, and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine.
“It's a hot-button issue that pulls well with a certain base of voters, and the folks promulgating these measures have been able to get their supporters very angry and upset about something they know absolutely nothing about,” Chriss told the Florida Record. “It's a fear-mongering tactic.”
The complaint states that puberty-blocking medication is needed because it prevents transgender adolescents from going through puberty’s physical developments, which can exacerbate the distress they experience as a result of gender dysphoria.
“If you give a child blockers when they start puberty, it can save them from needing these invasive, expensive, unnecessary surgeries once they're adults because they won't develop the secondary sex characteristics that make the rest of the world perceive them as the wrong gender,” Chriss said in an interview. “For transgender females, they won't develop an Adam's apple or facial hair. Their voice won't drop. For trans males, they won't develop breasts and they won't begin menstruating.”
Specifically, SB 254 prohibits the prescribing of puberty blockers to minors, impacts the ability to prescribe sex-reassignment medications to adults via telemedicine, and bans the use of state funds from paying for sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures.
“If for any reason, the adolescent decides they don't want to transition, they simply stop the puberty-blocking medication and endogenous puberty will progress as normal,” Chriss said. “So, there are no irreversible effects but for the kids that don't have blockers, they are going to develop secondary sex characteristics that they can't undo and they are going to need more interventions in the future. That’s why it's critical that folks have access to this when they first start puberty.”
SB 254 also permits the state of Florida to take temporary custody of minors who are receiving gender-affirming medical care but Chriss said it's just a facade.
"The custody piece of SB 254 has nothing to do with DCF and child welfare because the state can't intervene and take a child, but they use language to make parents think that it is what could happen," she added. "The goal is to get parents to stop affirming their children and getting them the medical care they need. The goal is to stop doctors from treating trans patients who are minors."