BY JACKIE LLANOS | Florida’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy for transgender minors and restrictions for adults are both unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, who presided over the case in Tallahassee, sided with the plaintiffs in the class action — parents of trans minors and trans adults — who argued the measure violated the U.S. Constitution because it solely targeted trans people.

“The federal courts have a role to play in upholding the constitution and laws. The state of Florida can regulate as needed but cannot flatly deny transgender individuals safe and effective medical treatment — treatment with medications routinely provided to others with the state’s full approval so long as the purpose is not to support the patient’s transgender identity,” Hinkle wrote.

Those restrictions came into place following Gov. Ron DeSantis’ approval of Senate Bill 254 in May 2023 and promulgation of rules from the Florida Board of Medicine and Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine enacting that law. Those boards and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo were named as defendants.

The measures banned minors’ use of puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy, common treatments for gender dysphoria. Additionally, the law said only physicians, psychologists, and psychiatrists could treat adults seeking gender-affirming care, with the added requirements of frequent in-person visits, tests, and authorization through a consent form that contained false information about the harms of hormone replacement therapy.

However, the law didn’t impose the same restrictions on cisgender women needing to take testosterone or cisgender men needing to take estrogen.

Appeal incoming

The state plans to appeal the ruling, said Jeremy Redfern, press secretary to DeSantis. An appeal would go to the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals.

“Through their elected representatives, the people of Florida acted to protect children in this state, and the court was wrong to override their wishes,” Redfern wrote in a statement to Florida Phoenix.

“We disagree with the court’s erroneous rulings on the law, on the facts, and on the science. As we’ve seen here in Florida, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, there is no quality evidence to support the chemical and physical mutilation of children. These procedures do permanent, life-altering damage to children, and history will look back on this fad in horror.”

Redfern wrote that the state would continue to “fight to ensure children are not chemically or physically mutilated in the name of radical, new age ‘gender ideology.’”

In his 105-page ruling, Hinkle noted that “there were no complaints from patients, no adverse results in Florida, just a political issue.”

However, the ruling does not lift the state ban on gender-affirming surgery for minors and restrictions on surgery for adults. That’s because the plaintiffs didn’t challenge the statutes relating to surgery for minors, and the adult plaintiff had not sought surgery and so lacked standing to challenge those restrictions.

Relief for plaintiffs

Plaintiff Gloria Goe (they used pseudonyms to protect the privacy of their children) is the mother of an 8-year-old (at the opening of the case) trans boy. During the opening day of the trial on Dec. 13, she testified that she feared her son would be swallowed by depression if forced to go through puberty without medical treatment.

“This ruling lifts a huge weight and worry from me and my family, knowing I can keep getting Gavin the care he needs, and he can keep being the big-hearted, smiling kid he is now. I’m so grateful the court saw how this law prevented parents like me from taking care of our children,” Goe wrote in a press release.

Attorneys with GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Southern Legal Counsel, and the Lowenstein Sandler law firm represented the plaintiffs.

Hinkle compared the discrimination trans people face nowadays to racism and misogyny.

“Some transgender opponents invoke religion to support their position, just as some once invoked religion to support their racism or misogyny,” Hinkle wrote. “Transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs. But they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender. In time, discrimination against transgender individuals will diminish, just as racism and misogyny have diminished.”

Editor’s note:

In a statement made to the Los Angeles Blade after Tuesday’s rule, Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights said:

“This decision is important because is the first federal court to rule on a law restricting healthcare for transgender adults and because it finds that Florida’s laws are plainly based on anti-transgender bias, not science. This victory shows that we can and must keep fighting these dangerous laws, notwithstanding the deeply flawed rulings of some conservative appellate courts.

Judge Hinkle ruled in favor of the transgender plaintiffs in this case even after the negative 11th Circuit ruling that reversed our initially successful challenge to a similar ban in Alabama. He was able to do so because the evidence showing that these laws have no medical justification and are rooted in false stereotypes and bias was so strong. This is a huge victory, and one that shows that we can win these battles even in red states.”   

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Jackie Llanos is a recent graduate of the University of Richmond. She has interned at Nashville Public Radio, Virginia Public Media, and Virginia Mercury.

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The preceding article was previously published by The Florida Phoenix and is republished with permission.

The Phoenix is a nonprofit news site that’s free of advertising and free to readers. We cover state government and politics with a staff of five journalists located at the Florida Press Center in downtown Tallahassee.

We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

A beloved professor of psychology at Averett University, a private Baptist university in Danville, Va., was found dead on March 16 of unknown causes at the Club Orlando, a popular sauna and bathhouse for gay men located in Orlando, Fla.

University officials said David Hanbury, 37, an Associate Professor of Psychology who taught at the university since 2015, was in Orlando attending a conference of the Southern Psychological Association and had initially been reported missing by family members before he was found deceased.

Orlando police told USA Today the cause of death had not been determined but the death “does not appear suspicious at this time.” USA Today reports that police said their investigation into the death was “active and ongoing.”

A spokesperson for the Orange County, Fla., Medical Examiner told the Washington Blade it would take about 90 days for the completion of blood work and toxicology tests to confirm the cause of death in a case like this, where there were no obvious signs of injury or illness.

Cassie W. Jones, Associate Vice President of University Marketing and Communications at Averett University, declined to disclose whether Hanbury self-identified as gay in response to an inquiry from the Blade

“As an employer, we cannot comment on our employees’ personal matters,” Jones said. But when asked if the university would have continued to treat Hanbury with respect and support his tenure at the university if he had come out as gay, she said “absolutely” in an email response to Blade questions.

“Dr. David Hanbury was a dear professor, colleague and friend whose influence was far reaching,” Jones said in a March 21 message to the Blade, “We send our affection, condolences, and prayers of support to Dr. Hanbury’s family, friends and all others upon whom he had a lasting impact.”

The Averett University website shows that it has a policy of nondiscrimination that includes the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity among other categories such as race, religion, and ethnicity. The website also shows that the university has an LGBTQ student group called the Gender and Sexuality Alliance or GSA group. 

Jones said the admiration and longstanding support of Hanbury from his fellow professors and students was reflected in a March 18 memorial gathering for him on campus.

“Nearly 250 students, faculty, staff, and community members joined as one Averett family, united in grief and sorrow, as we gave thanks for the remarkable life and influence of Dr. Hanbury on our lives and on the University,” Jones said.

“Averett University is committed to inclusion and belonging for all who learn, work and visit our campus,” Jone told the Blade. “Openness and inclusivity are embedded in our institution’s core values, and we know our diversity makes us stronger.”

The Baptist Standard, an independent newspaper  that reports on the Baptist Church, reported in a May 9, 2011, story that the Baptist General Association of Virginia severed ties with Averett University in 2005 over a disagreement with the university’s position on homosexuality. Other news reports at the time said the Baptist organization objected to the university’s support for a gay student group.

Jones, in her message to the Blade, said Averett University currently “is a part of the Baptist General Association of Virginia family of educational partners.” She added, “We are aligned in our commitment to meet students wherever they are in their faith journey, and welcome those of all faiths or no faith.”  

A settlement reached with the Florida State Board of Education, Florida Department of Education and various school districts and the attorneys and plaintiffs clarifies what is allowed in Florida classrooms under the state’s controversial “Parental Rights in Education” law colloquially referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed the agreement with the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals on Tuesday. The agreement effectively nullifies the most dangerous and discriminatory impacts of the law, and makes clear that the law must be applied neutrally and is no license to discriminate against or erase LGBTQ+ families.

Cameron Driggers and Jack Petocz, who led the statewide student protest against the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in March 2022, reacted in a text message to the Washington Blade saying:

“LGBTQ+ students and allies are breathing a sigh of relief today in response to the news that litigation has successfully mediated some of the most extreme aspects of Gov. DeSantis’ ‘Don’t Say Gay’ legislation. Just about two years ago, we led a statewide school walkout all across the state of Florida in response to that bill. We knew then that it infringed on the basic civil liberties of students and teachers and we look forward to future challenges to other pieces of authoritarian legislation.”

“The settlement restores the ability of students, teachers and others in Florida schools to speak and write freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in class participation and schoolwork,” the legal teams noted in a statement. “It also restores safeguards against bullying on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and reinstates Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs). Critically, the settlement also requires the State Board of Education to send today’s agreement to every school district, and to make clear that the settlement reflects the considered position of the state of Florida on the scope and meaning of this law.” the statement continued.

Specifically, the historic settlement agreement clarifies the following:

• Classroom references. The law does not prohibit references to LGBTQ+ persons, couples, families, or issues, including in literature, in classroom discussion (such as student-to-student speech or teachers responding to students’ questions), in students’ academic work product or teachers’ review of the same, in teachers identifying same-sex or transgender spouses or partners, or in any other context in which a teacher is not “instructing” on the subject of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Nondiscrimination. The law does not target LGBTQ+ persons, couples, families or issues. Rather, it requires neutrality and prohibits “classroom instruction” on the subjects of sexual orientation or gender identity, whether the subject addresses heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, cisgender identities, transgender identities or otherwise. It would violate the law, then, to instruct that heterosexuality is superior to other sexualities, or that cisgender identities are superior to transgender identities.
• Anti-bullying and acceptance. The law does not prohibit instruction or intervention against bullying on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, nor does it require the removal of safe space stickers or elimination of safe space areas for the benefit of LGBTQ+ persons.
• Extracurricular activities. The law does not prohibit Gay-Straight Alliances, including student attendance or participation by teachers or other faculty members. The law also does not prohibit book fairs that include LGBTQ+ focused books, musicals or plays with LGBTQ+ references or characters, participation and expression by LGBTQ+ persons in other extracurricular events like school dances, or the wearing of clothing that is affiliated with LGBTQ+ persons or issues or that does not conform with one’s perceived gender identity.
• Library books. The law does not apply to library books, so long as those books are not being used in the classroom to instruct on the subjects of sexual orientation or gender identity. 
• Third parties. The law does not apply to non-school-personnel, including parents, other family members, and guest lecturers, so long as the school is not delegating to such third party the role of providing classroom instruction on the subjects of sexual orientation or gender identity.

“We made a promise to LGBTQ+ families, students and educators across the state to ensure that they received equal dignity under the law, and to protect our schools from a censorship agenda that harms the education system as a whole,” said Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith. “Florida has already endured nearly two years of book banning, educators leaving the profession and safe space stickers being ripped off of classroom windows in the wake of this law cynically targeting the LGBTQ+ community. This settlement is a giant step toward repairing the immense damage these laws and the dangerous political rhetoric has inflicted on our families, our schools and our state. The message to school districts, superintendents and teachers alike is clear: Protect every student and respect every family.”

In early 2022, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1557, commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The plaintiffs sued the next day, alleging that the law was impermissibly vague, was obviously motivated by hostility to LGBTQ people and families and created an enforcement system that enabled discrimination and discouraged efforts to fight it. The plaintiffs claimed that the law violated their rights to equal protection, due process, and free speech. The plaintiffs litigated aggressively, and engaged in months of negotiations with the state’s lawyers to forge Monday’s historic settlement.

“This settlement is a huge victory for our community, both in Florida and nationally. It not only reverses the censorship and intimidation created by Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ law, it codifies important new protections that were not previously clearly established, such as the right of teachers and staff to talk about LGBTQ people, to put safe space stickers in their classrooms, and to be open about their own LGBTQ identities or same-sex partners, just as straight teachers are able to be,” said NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter in a phone statement to the Blade. “I am thrilled to be part of this historic moment, which is a strong sign that the tide of anti-LGBTQ hatred and persecution is turning, thanks to the hard work of so many.” 

Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf issued the following statement:

“This is more evidence: The tide is turning on the anti-LGBTQ+ agenda. In state legislatures and courtrooms in Florida and beyond, discriminatory policies are starting to collapse. The DeSantis administration was forced to acknowledge that their vague, broad law was having sweeping consequences. And this settlement makes clear that every student deserves a safe, welcoming school environment where their families are treated with the respect that they deserve — and that what applies to LGBTQ+ people must apply to others equally. Thank you to the legal team and courageous plaintiffs for challenging this discriminatory law.”