Florida House Hosts Sham Panel on Gender Affirming Care
Florida House of Representatives Hosts Sham Panel on Gender Affirming Care
TALLAHASSEE, FL -- On Tuesday, the Florida House Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by State Representative Randy Fine, held a sham panel discussion on gender affirming care that was stacked with discredited testimony and rife with anti-LGBTQ animus. One panelist, a right wing social media influencer, referred to the transgender community as "terrorists" in a "cult". Representative Fine has promised that a bill targeting health care for transgender young people is coming and Governor DeSantis, in his quest to build a right wing presidential resume, has called for legislation that would codify the rule being considered by the Boards of Medicine and Osteopathy to ban that care for transgender youth in Florida. Nikole Parker, Equality Florida Director of Transgender Equality, issued the following statement in response:
As expected, today’s legislative panel on gender dysphoria wasn’t driven by science or facts, it was driven by politics. This one-sided discussion, which relied on fringe speakers from social media and from outside of Florida and the U.S., does not change the broad scientific consensus from our nation’s leading medical associations— that gender-affirming care improves health outcomes and saves lives.