{"id":32653,"date":"2023-06-06T13:59:11","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T17:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=32653"},"modified":"2023-06-06T18:17:47","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T22:17:47","slug":"u-s-district-judge-robert-hinkle-strikes-down-florida-transgender-care-ban-and-calls-it-an-exercise-in-politics-not-in-good-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/06\/06\/u-s-district-judge-robert-hinkle-strikes-down-florida-transgender-care-ban-and-calls-it-an-exercise-in-politics-not-in-good-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle strikes down Florida transgender care ban and calls it “an exercise in politics, not in good medicine”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Florida judge blocked enforcement of the state’s ban on transgender-affirming care on Tuesday, calling the rule “an exercise in politics, not in good medicine.”<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle granted a preliminary injunction against Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, the Florida Board of Medicine, the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine, and other state leaders, and will allow parents to access medical care for their transgender children as the ban’s constitutionality is debated in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The plaintiffs\u2019 adolescent children will suffer irreparable harm \u2014 the unwanted and irreversible onset and progression of puberty in their natal sex \u2014 if they do not promptly begin treatment with GnRH agonists,” wrote Hinkle, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton in 1996. “The treatment will affect the patients themselves, nobody else, and will cause the defendants no harm. The preliminary injunction will be consistent with, not adverse to, the public interest. Adherence to the Constitution is always in the public interest.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinkle’s decision presses pause on a board rule that advanced the prohibition on puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and transition-related surgery, although that procedure is rarely recommended for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Banning gender-affirming care for trans youth has been a priority of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, which pushed the Board of Medicine to look into the care last year. DeSantis and other Republican leaders have said the care is experimental and lacks evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the order, Hinkle states the “unspoken suggestion running just below the surface” in the ban is that the defendants believe “transgender identity is not real, that it is made up,” and that “any proponent of the challenged statute and rules should put up or shut up…”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Gender identity is real,” Hinkle states throughout the order, and says transgender people have faced, and continue to face “bigotry.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Common experience confirms this, as does a Florida legislator\u2019s remarkable reference to transgender witnesses at a committee hearing as ‘mutants’ and ‘demons,’ ” Hinkle wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early April, Republican lawmaker Webster Barnaby compared transgender people to “mutants”, “demons” and “imps,” during a House Commerce Committee meeting just before voting to support House Bill 1521<\/a>, which requires people to use public restrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinkle states the defendant’s arguments that gender-affirming care is harmful to minors that it is banned in European countries and that Florida is joining the “international consensus” in medical care are false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And no matter how many times the defendants say it, it will still be false. No country in Europe \u2014 or as far as shown by this record, anywhere in the world \u2014 entirely bans these treatments,” Hinkle wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Had Florida truly joined the international consensus \u2014 making these treatments available in appropriate circumstances or in approved facilities \u2014 these plaintiffs would qualify, and the instant motions would not be necessary,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case was brought anonymously by Jane Doe, who is challenging the ban on behalf of herself and her daughter, Susan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy husband and I have been heartbroken and worried sick about not being able to care for our daughter in the way we know she needs. I\u2019m sure most any parent can imagine the sense of powerlessness that comes from being unable to do something as basic as get medical care for your child,” Doe said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The families are represented by Southern Legal Counsel, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Human Rights Campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday\u2019s ruling is a powerful affirmation of the humanity of transgender people, the efficacy of well-established, science-based medical care, and of the rights of parents to make informed healthcare decisions for their children,” the groups said in a statement. “We are incredibly relieved that these Florida parents can continue to get healthcare for their children while we proceed to challenge these bans and eventually see them fully overturned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s clear that Democrat Judge Hinkle is a science-denying wokeist whose radical order will soon be overturned by jurists who actually believe in science. We will not stop fighting to defend children from those like Hinkle who support child castration and mutilation\u201d, Posted by Rep. Randy Fine on Twitter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Florida judge blocked enforcement of the state’s ban on transgender-affirming care on Tuesday, calling the rule “an exercise in politics, not in good medicine.” U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle granted a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[5175],"class_list":["post-32653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-u-s-district-judge-robert-hinkle-strikes-down-florida-transgender-care-ban"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32653"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32662,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32653\/revisions\/32662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}