15 Days Since Florida Banned Most Adult Trans Care: People Are Suffering
Today marks 15 days since Florida's legislature banned most adult trans care. People continue to be unable to obtain their medications. People are suffering and turning to alternate means.
It's been 15 days since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put his signature on Senate Bill 254, putting a halt to 80% of trans adult care while leaving the remaining 20% stuck in limbo. The repercussions are profound, with many transgender individuals throughout the state losing access to their medications, pushing a multitude into medical detransition. The situation grows ever more critical for transgender residents, with the majority unable to secure prescription refills or make new appointments. A fortunate few, who either stockpiled their medication or found willing pharmacies, are living on a borrowed time. For the rest, Florida, bearing the second-largest population of adult transgender individuals, is experiencing a chilling experiment: a rapid and extensive removal of lifesaving medication, and people are suffering.
Up until this point, gender affirming care bans have mostly focused on transgender youth. Though there were murmurings of bans that could go up to 26 years old, these were quickly quashed in state legislatures. A few bills, such as a bill in Oklahoma, were amended to bans on gender affirming care under 18 years of age - these bills are extreme enough and represent a major step backwards in transgender rights.
The landscape shifted significantly in recent months, beginning in Missouri. Attorney General Andrew Bailey signed a decree prohibiting the majority of gender-affirming care for transgender adults. The instituted regulations echoed Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws, which impose almost insurmountable requirements on abortion clinics. The policy advanced to a court hearing where it seemed to significantly falter under scrutiny. In a pre-emptive move, the Attorney General withdrew the policy before the judge could render a final verdict.
Several weeks later, DeSantis enacted Senate Bill 254, a law that uniquely targets the transgender community in Florida. Initial news reports characterized it as a ban on transgender youth, but its provisions concerning transgender adults have incited severe distress among this group within the state. The law blocks 80% of gender-affirming care for transgender adults by barring nurse practitioners from offering this care. Organizations like Planned Parenthood, one of the largest providers of this care, rely on nurse practitioners heavily.
For the remaining 20% who receive their care from MDs or DOs, they face significant challenges refilling prescriptions at pharmacies that are currently trying to interpret the implications of these regulations on their risk. Additionally, the bill stipulates that transgender adults, even those who have previously received care, must be given a medical disinformation and informed consent form sanctioned by the state's Board of Medicine. The Board, however, has yet to produce such forms, leading to an additional layer of difficulty.
Transgender researcher Zinnia Jones’ website, Gender Analysis, has outlined the exact impact of this bill on the community in a flowchart, showing how no matter how you received your care as a transgender adult in Florida before, it is likely you are facing severe disruptions:
Speaking with Erin In The Morning, Mia, a 38 year old transgender woman, shared an email from Planned Parenthood stating that gender affirming care services were paused. Though Planned Parenthood sent an emergency refill to Publix that was valid before the law took effect, the pharmacy has refused to fill her prescriptions and she was told to return in 4 months once the impact of the law could be evaluated.
See the email she received:
When asked what would happen if she lost access, she said, “I’m scared to lose access completely, especially since moving isn’t really an option right now. Losing access or not being able to refill would be possibly the worst thing. The last 9 months have been the best mental health wise, even with all of the fear from the law changes. I’ll find refills through the gray market before being forcibly detransitioned.”
She is still trying to find ways to fill her prescription legally.
She has stated that leaving the state may be an option after she finishes her bachelors in legal studies and can work long enough to afford to move, stating that it will take “about 6 months to a year to get out.”
However, as Jones points out, “Leaving the state is also not a realistic or scalable option: Florida has the second-largest adult trans population in the country after California. 94,900-100,000 adult trans people are affected by this ban.”
You can see the figures here:
Kameron, an 18 year old transgender man in the state, agrees that leaving would not be an easy option, stating that “it would uproot my entire life here.”
Kameron also received his refills from Planned Parenthood and was told that he would be unable to refill his prescriptions. Though he has heard that some doctors might be able to prescribe medication, he knows that the informed consent form to receive care mandated by the state has not been developed yet. As a result, he has been forced to rely on his stockpile that he gathered in preparation for laws like this.
Lucina, a trans individual residing in Florida, received a notification from her healthcare provider stating her care would be discontinued due to her provider being a nurse practitioner. The correspondence indicated that the enactment of the bill prohibited the continuation of her care, and she should promptly seek a legally authorized physician. The letter suggested that she contact primary care providers as a desperate measure, even though these providers often lack training in gender-affirming care. Even if they agreed to provide such care, without the necessary informed consent form, which is yet to be produced by the Board of Medicine, these physicians would likely be unable to administer it.
Here is the letter she received:
Gender-affirming care is lifesaving. Numerous studies have proven its positive effect on transgender individuals, including research that indicated a 73% reduction in suicidality and another study that reflected a 40% decrease in recent suicide attempts. Over 50 studies underscoring the advantages of gender-affirming care have been collected by the Cornell University Center for the Study of Inequality. Policies such as Senate Bill 254 not only deprive individuals of this essential care but also inflict trauma on transgender people by abruptly discontinuing their treatment.
The future of transgender people in Florida hangs in the balance. The contentious law is currently under legal scrutiny, with an imminent decision expected regarding a motion for a temporary restraining order to halt its enforcement. Concurrently, the Florida Board of Medicine is scheduled to convene on Thursday to deliberate on the law, possibly initiating the process to create state-required informed consent and disinformation forms. As each day passes, the situation becomes more precarious for many transgender individuals in the state who are being forced to discontinue their hormone therapy unsafely or turn to alternate methods.
Now is our time to fight. St. Pete Pride is the largest pride in the Southeast United States, and we have a huge queer population and acceptance here like no where else I've ever been. Every time I walk the streets of downtown St Pete, I see queer couples of all shades openly holding hands in front of businesses with pride flags on display.
Nadine Smith, the director of Equality FL, said l at a gala I went to that she fought for the last 30 years in Tallahassee and for 27 of those years, no major anti lgbtq bills were passed. The mass exodus isn't the scalable answer like you said in your article.
We need the opposite, I want trans people from all over the country to come join us in the Trans March on June 24. As the Communications Director of the LGBTQ Democratic Caucus in FL, I'm not leaving. I'm a trans woman of color and this is my beautiful and queer home, and I want you to join us.
I am calling for a Transgender March to the United Nations and an appeal to the UN Secretary General to declare Florida and Tennessee International Danger Zones for Travel by GLBTQI+ people and families on the basis of their open policy of Cultural Genocide of all Transgender people.
Anyone supporting this action can contact me at britfether@aol.com