TALLAHASSEE, Florida (LifeSiteNews) — Florida moved one step closer to further protecting gender-confused children from irreversible puberty blockers and surgeries that result in permanent infertility.
Senate Bill 254 passed the state senate on Monday and now heads to the Florida House of Representatives. The legislation would also protect kids in custody disputes from having genital and chemical mutilation forced on them by one parent.
“I believe we need to let kids be kids,” bill sponsor state Sen. Clay Yarborough said, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel. “And our laws need to set appropriate boundaries that respect the rights and responsibilities of parents while protecting children from the very serious health and safety concerns associated with these treatments.”
No Democrats supported the bill, and the only Republican who opposed the legislation was state Sen. Gayle Harrell.
The Florida Speaker of the House said that individuals should be free “have their bodies mutilated” just not when they are children. “I don’t think that young people should have their bodies mutilated until they have a chance to make a decision,” House Speaker Renner said. “And when they’re adults, if that’s what they choose to do, then we support them in that decision. … And I think everybody in this room, everybody listening, knows that when you are a child developmentally, you are not ready to make those determinations.”
Florida Democrats have tried to stop the legislation, with one leftist legislator claiming that Governor Ron DeSantis wanted “genocide” against gender-confused individuals and was “erasing our trans babies.”
“When you strip away access to gender-affirming care, you are erasing trans people. You are erasing our trans babies!” Rep. Anna Eskamani said during a March rally. She also said Gov. DeSantis “wants to commit genocide on trans people” before defending drag shows.
“When you demonize drag, you are demonizing queer culture,” the leftist Democrat said to rapturous cheers from the LGBT activists behind her.
The legislation follows a series of actions by the Floridian government meant to protect kids from harmful drugs and surgeries aimed at changing one’s sex.
For example, two medical boards in Florida voted in February to further extend the state’s prohibition on minors taking cross-sex hormones and puberty blocking drugs and getting genital surgeries as part of the state’s larger efforts to stop the chemical and surgical mutilation of children, as LifeSiteNews previously reported.
At a January 31 news conference, DeSantis denounced medical professionals for “giving teenagers, kids puberty blockers. They’re doing sex change operations. And so we actually have, you know, young adults who went through this when they were minors, and they’re saying this is a huge mistake. And, in fact, it’s not evidence based.”
LifeSiteNews has compiled testimonies from formerly gender-confused people along with insights from credential medical experts on the harms of transgenderism. This is a resource for confronting LGBT activists and helping gender-confused individuals realize the harms of chemical and surgical mutilations. Read more here.