Florida state Sen. Clay Yarborough on March 3 introduced a measure that would mandate state intervention in cases of transgender minors receiving gender-affirming care.
Senate Bill 254 includes provisions for courts exercising temporary emergency jurisdiction over a child who “is at risk of or is being subjected to” gender-affirming care; includes granting of warrants for physical custody over children “likely to imminently” receive gender affirming care; and imposing felony penalties on parents or healthcare providers providing gender affirming care to minors.
The bill also includes a provision targeting trans minors from Florida families where the child in question may reside outside of Florida.
“Parents have the right to raise their children as they see fit, and government intervention should be a last resort,” she added, “Unfortunately, all too often we are hearing about treatments for gender dysphoria being administered to children, often very young children. That’s just wrong, and we need to step in and make sure it isn’t happening in our state.”
Equality Florida Director of Transgender Equality Nikole Parker provided the following statement in response:
“This legislation is a gross assault on parental rights. Republican leadership wants to seize control over children if their parents might seek supportive health care that doesn’t align with the DeSantis agenda. Parents have the right to make healthcare decisions for their children. This includes health care widely and safely used with children for decades. This bill is about extremist politics, not well-being. Parents could lose custody of their children and face felony prosecution for seeking life-saving care and healthcare providers would be criminalized for practicing widely-accepted medicine. Senator Yarborough should be ashamed, and every parent should be alarmed by this dangerous, authoritarian precedent.”
Openly gay former State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando) tweeted, “I can’t believe I’m writing this. A new FL bill will tell courts to SEIZE TRANS CHILDREN AWAY from their supportive parents if those parents provide or are ‘at risk’ of providing them life-saving care. Parents would be charged with felonies + thrown in prison. This is fascist.”