TALLAHASSEE, Florida (LifeSiteNews) – The Florida Department of Health released new guidance on Wednesday warning against transgender drugs and surgeries for minors and repudiating recent claims by the Biden administration in support of “gender-affirming care.”
Florida’s guidance recommends that children and adolescents with gender dysphoria should not be prescribed puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones or receive “sex change” surgeries. Gender dysphoria is a disorder that involves stress due to a desire to live as the opposite sex.
Today, the Florida Department of Health released guidance pushing back on @HHSGov unscientific shift in the treatment of gender dysphoria for children and adolescents.
The press release is available here: https://t.co/JsE4HcYOUD… pic.twitter.com/vmWQhBsaai
— Florida Dept. of Health (@HealthyFla) April 20, 2022
The guidance also advises against “social gender transition,” which can include changing a child’s name, pronouns, and clothing in accordance with a so-called “transgender identity.”
The Florida Department of Health pointed to “a lack of conclusive evidence” for “gender transitioning” and “the potential for long-term, irreversible effects,” and noted that systematic reviews on hormonal interventions “show a trend of low-quality evidence, small sample sizes, and medium to high risk of bias.”
“Based on the currently available evidence, ‘encouraging mastectomy, ovariectomy, uterine extirpation, penile disablement, tracheal shave, the prescription of hormones which are out of line with the genetic make-up of the child, or puberty blockers, are all clinical practices which run an unacceptably high risk of doing harm,’” the guidance added, citing a recent article published in the Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy.
More than 80 percent of minors with gender dysphoria grow out of the condition by late adolescence, according to other research cited in the document.
“Children and adolescents should be provided social support by peers and family and seek counseling from a licensed provider,” the Florida Department of Health urged.
The new guidelines don’t apply to medical procedures for children with a “genetically or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex development.”
It’s unclear what effect the guidance will have on Florida doctors, according to The Tampa Bay Times. The state has multiple active “gender clinics” for young people, including the UF Health Youth Gender Program in Gainesville and the Orlando-based Adolescent Medicine Center of the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.
RELATED: Alabama bans ‘sex change’ procedures for children, LGBT ideology in elementary schools
The Florida Department of Health noted that Wednesday’s guidance falls in line with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s age requirement for “gender reassignment services,” in addition to “guidance, reviews, and recommendations from Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, and France.”
In February, Sweden recommended against puberty blockers and other hormone drugs for minors in light of significant health risks and “uncertain science.” The dangers of the drugs “outweigh the possible benefits,” Swedish health officials said at the time. Finland announced similar recommendations in 2020.
Experts have cautioned that transgender hormone drugs can result in serious or even life-threatening side effects, such as sterilization. Drug labels for puberty blockers warn of stroke and “sudden cardiac death,” and cross-sex hormones are linked to increased risk of cancer and often lead to mutilating “sex change” surgeries.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones for children or adolescents with gender dysphoria. Neither type of drug has been evaluated in randomized controlled trials or longitudinal studies with minors who have the condition.
Biden admin ‘injecting political ideology into the health of our children’
Florida’s guidelines came as a response to documents issued last month by the Biden administration’s Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) that hail “gender-affirming care,” including chemical and surgical castration, as “crucial” for “transgender and nonbinary” youth.
In a press release on Wednesday, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo blasted the HHS guidance for “failing at the most basic level of academic rigor.”
“The federal government’s medical establishment releasing guidance failing at the most basic level of academic rigor shows that this was never about health care,” said Ladapo, an appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis. “It was about injecting political ideology into the health of our children. Children experiencing gender dysphoria should be supported by family and seek counseling, not pushed into an irreversible decision before they reach 18.”
Guidance of this magnitude requires a thorough, unbiased review of the evidence.
It was irresponsible of @HHSGov to release guidance that failed to meet the most basic level of academic rigor. @HealthyFla will step up to fill the void left by the feds. https://t.co/SUF9kzj7hs pic.twitter.com/Ldae3FgiSG
— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) April 20, 2022
SIGN, THANK and STAND with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who is being attacked by Disney for signing a new law which prohibits sexual indoctrination of schoolchildren from Kindergarten to 3rd Grade. *Anyone - no matter where you reside - can sign this petition!
For protecting the innocence of his state's youngest schoolchildren and standing up to the bullies in the LGBT lobby, Governor Ron DeSantis has predictably been on the receiving end of sustained attacks from LGBT activists and their numerous allies in the leftist mainstream media.
And now, the Disney Corporation - one of Florida's biggest employers - has decided to interfere in politics and pick a fight with DeSantis over the new law.
BUT, Florida parents, and parents across the country, are overjoyed that a governor is finally taking seriously their concerns about the early sexualization of our nation's children!
SIGN, THANK, and STAND with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with this petition which will be delivered to Governor DeSantis' office and CC'ed to Disney, and which tells the Governor that we thank him for, and will stand with him in, protecting our schoolchildren from LGBT indoctrination.
This common sense legislation, known as the Parental Rights in Education Act, prohibits instruction pertaining to sexual orientation, "gender identity" and transgenderism in Kindergarten through 3rd Grade classrooms across the state of Florida.
And, the new law also puts stronger limits on such discussions for older children, frustrating a primary tenet of the radical left's plan to encroach upon impressionable young minds.
Media talking heads and political opponents, ranging from radical LGBT activist groups to morally corrupt corporations like Disney, dubbed HB 1557 the "Don't Say Gay" Bill.
But, the truth is that such sensitive, personal subjects are not the job of schools to cover, but the job of parents alone, who, under the bill, would be allowed to take legal action against school districts that violate its provisions.
By their hateful reaction to the bill (now law) and to Governor DeSantis, one can only assume that Disney actually despises parents and their role as the primary educator of their children, especially in, but not limited to, areas of sexual conduct and morals.
Indeed, the extreme volume of manufactured outrage on this particular piece of legislation reveals the following significant nugget of information: one of the seminal means the LGBT "community" counts on to continue attracting people into their ranks, or as so-called "allies," is by brainwashing little, unsuspecting children without their, or their parents', consent.
We know it, and they know it. And, finally, someone is doing something about it.
SIGN, THANK and STAND with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who is being attacked by Disney for signing a new law which prohibits sexual indoctrination of schoolchildren from Kindergarten to 3rd Grade.
Children's innocence is worth it and Disney, and its chairman Bob Chapek, should be ashamed of themselves for threatening to interfere in state politics because they are offended that children's minds will no longer be violated.
We must encourage people like Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature not to be blackmailed and not to be afraid...
If Disney wants to escalate things, then conservative and Christian parents might be finally persuaded not to visit Disneyland and Disney World, nor buy Disney products, nor watch Disney films.
Conservatives and Christians, and right-thinking people from all walks of life, need to start playing hardball with the likes of Disney.
We saw what happens when parents show their power in Virginia last year, so any further action on this matter by Florida Democrats and their allies in Disney’s executive leadership will be at their own peril.
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition to THANK and STAND WITH Governor Ron DeSantis for protecting children from LGBT propaganda, and from Disney's bullying, slurs and legal threats.
Thank you!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'DeSantis slams Disney for opposing law that bans LGBT propaganda from classrooms' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/desantis-slams-disney-for-saying-they-will-try-to-overturn-anti-grooming-bill/
**Photo Credit: Leonard Zhukovsky/Shutterstock.com and Shutterstock.com
The Florida Department of Health on Wednesday published a fact check refuting guidelines from the HHS Offices of Population Affairs (OASH). The OASH guidance, which claimed that transgender procedures help “mental health and overall well-being,” relied on small, questionable studies, like an online survey of “transgender” adults, the fact check points out.
One study cited by the OASH actually found that “socially transitioning” children “could not be supported from the present results.”
“The current evidence does not support the use of puberty blockers, hormone treatments, or surgical procedures for children and adolescents, considering potentially irreversible consequences such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, infertility, increased cancer risk, and thrombosis,” the Florida Department of Health observed.
Republicans crack down on child ‘sex changes’
Florida’s new guidance comes amid a push by Republican state officials across the country to crack down on experimental, dangerous pediatric “gender transitions.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey earlier this month signed into law a ban on transgender drugs and surgeries for minors below age 19. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey approved a bill the week before prohibiting underage “sex change” surgeries in the Grand Canyon State.
In February, Gov. Greg Abbott directed Texas state agencies to treat “gender-transitioning procedures” for minors as child abuse and investigate parents and medical facilities responsible for “transitioning” kids.
Florida lawmakers have introduced similar measures, but the proposals have stalled in the GOP-controlled state legislature. Gov. DeSantis said last year that he would sign such legislation if it crossed his desk.
The Republican governor and potential 2024 hopeful signed a bill in March that restricts discussion of sexuality and gender issues in public schools through the third grade.