The Florida Department of Health released guidance on Wednesday aimed at banning both “social transsexuals” and gender-verifying medical care for people under the age of 18 in the state.
Non-binding guidance that does not change the law comes when Republicans in dozens of states are trying to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.
Specific because the Ministry of Health guidance issued by Governor Ron DeSantis and state surgeon General Joseph A. Radapo recommends opposition to the transition to medical care for both minors, including adolescents. It goes even further than most state legislation that seeks to limit access to transition-related health care: puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery — and “social transsexuality is a treatment option for children and adolescents. Don’t, “other states generally don’t say.
According to the guidelines, there is no conclusive evidence that affirming the care of transgender youth has positive consequences for mental health and can have “irreversible effects”. The Ministry of Health also quoted a 2015 paper published in the International Review of Psychiatry, stating that “80% of people seeking clinical care are discouraged from equating with unborn gender.” increase.
The Department of Health said the guidance was prompted by the US Department of Health and Human Services fact sheet released last month. It allows children and adolescents to focus on social transitions and increase their self-confidence while navigating the healthcare system. “
Mr Ladapo criticized federal leadership in a statement Wednesday, saying he failed “at the most basic level of academic rigor” and as a result “never about medical care.”
“It was about injecting political ideology into the health of our children,” Radapo said. “Children experiencing gender identity should be supported by their families and seek counseling and should not be forced into irreversible decisions before reaching the age of 18.”
The response to the guidance from LGBTQ supporters was swift. Sam Ames, head of advocacy and government affairs for the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization, said all relevant accredited medical associations are helping transgender youth gender identification. Said.
Ames was also peer-reviewed in another release on Wednesday’s federal guidance by the Trevor Project, where the Florida Department of Health examined hormone therapy among more than 9,000 transgender and non-binary adolescents. He said he selectively cited the study. “Getting this gender-verifying care has reduced the odds of recent depression by nearly 40% and is associated with suicide attempts in people under the age of 18 over the past year,” Ames said. Ignored. “
Dr. Jack Turban, a psychiatrist at Stanford University School of Medicine who studies the mental health of transgender youth, said Said on twitter “The broad medical consensus disagrees with almost every aspect of this memo from the Florida Department of Health.”
He quoted a 2016 study that found that young people experiencing social transition had favorable mental health results. He also said that there are 16 gender-affirming medical studies for transgender adolescents, “the majority of which show improvement in mental health through these interventions.”
Turban criticized the statistics quoted by the Ministry of Health, and most young people began to identify gender at birth, saying, “This is incorrect and current guidelines do not qualify for gender-verifying medical intervention anyway. It is based on prepubertal children. “
He added that gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth has “has been terribly politicized.”
“Decisions in this area should be made by doctors and their families, not by politicians who do not have expertise in this area,” he said. “We should follow the guidelines of the Endocrine Society, not political nonsense.”
Three states, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Alabama, have restrictions on medical care to determine the gender of minors. A federal judge blocked Arkansas law in July, and Alabama law has not yet come into force.
Sarah Ravenheim, Assistant Secretary of Public Relations for the Department of Health and Human Services, also issued a statement in a tweet about Florida’s guidance.
“We are committed to protecting young Americans targeted for sexual orientation and gender identity and helping their parents, caretakers and families,” she said. ..
In a statement, Daniel Tilly, director of legal affairs at the Associated State of the United States in Florida, Florida’s guidance was non-binding and now non-enforceable, but its impact is on transgender youth, their parents, and theirs. He said he knew that he would bring fear to his medical care. Provider. “
Some supporters are also afraid that DeSantis, widely seen as a potential candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, can use the guidelines in a manner similar to Texas civil servants.
In February, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that under state law, providing gender-verifying medical care to minors would be considered child abuse, even if the law itself did not change. Announced a weak legal opinion. Governor Greg Abbott then instructed the state child protection services agency to investigate allegations of child abuse filed against parents suspected of providing such care to transgender children. A state judge temporarily blocked the investigation last month.
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