Gov. Ron DeSantis. Photo via DeSantis’ Facebook.
TALLAHASSEE | A federal judge issued an order June 21 that permanently enjoins Florida from enforcing its ban on transgender residents using Medicaid for gender-affirming healthcare.
The trial last month ended a few days after Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a flurry of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation on May 17 to include SB 254, which further restricted access to transgender health care in the state.
Simone Chriss, director of Transgender Rights Initiative with Southern Legal Counsel, one of the groups representing the plaintiffs told WUSF Public Radio/NPR:
“These are folks who are on Medicaid because they are low income or disabled and they cannot otherwise afford access to their treatments that they need.”
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in his fifty-four page order noted: “For many years, Florida’s Medicaid system paid for medically necessary treatments for gender dysphoria. Recently, for political reasons, Florida adopted a rule and then a statute prohibiting payment for some of the treatments: puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries.”
Hinkle then stated that “gender identity is real. The record makes this clear.”
In his 44-page ruling issued on June 6 in an earlier case, Judge Hinkle barred the state from any further enforcement action against trans youth or their parents from seeking appropriate gender-affirming care.
Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, told the Blade: “After a full trial including expert testimony from both sides, Judge Hinkle has ruled that Florida’s exclusion of transgender healthcare under its Medicaid program is invalid and may not be enforced. This means that Florida’s Medicaid program must provide medically necessary care for gender dysphoria, just as it does for other medical conditions.” (Editor’s note: NCLR was not a party in this litigation.)
The decision, however, is not just limited to plaintiffs in the case, two transgender adults named August Dekker and Brit Rothstein, along with two trans minors and their parents. who brought the lawsuit against Florida.
It applies to the mammoth, multibillion-dollar safety net health care program that is paid for by a mix of state and federal tax dollars.
Lambda Legal, the Transgender Rights Initiative and Southern Legal Counsel who filed the initial legal challenge estimated that there are up to 9,000 Medicaid transgender enrollees in the state receiving gender-affirming care.
Equality Florida issued the following statement June 22:
“This ruling affirms what we have long known: the DeSantis Administration’s Medicaid rule was politically motivated, denying access to care is against the overwhelming weight of medical authority, and there is no rational basis for a state to ban such care or exclude it from Medicaid coverage.
This was about discriminatory government overreach into real people’s lives. In an attempt to prop up the Governor’s presidential aspirations, the state violated the federal Medicaid statute, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition against sex discrimination.
Judge Hinkle struck at the heart of the matter: ‘I find that the adult plaintiffs’ motivation is their desire to achieve the best possible medical treatment for their gender dysphoria. I find that the minor plaintiffs’ parents’ motivation is love for their children. I find that the motivation of the minor plaintiffs and their parents is the desire to achieve the best possible medical treatment for the minor plaintiffs’ gender dysphoria. This is not the State’s motivation.’
We applaud the plaintiffs and legal partners bringing this case, as well as the advocates across Florida who continue to resist the Governor’s anti-freedom agenda and advance the fight for full equality.“
Additional reporting by Watermark staff. The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com
