Mother and Trans Daughter to Flee Florida Over Health Care Restrictions
rule, which prohibits minors from receiving hormone therapies, puberty-blocking drugs, or gender confirmation surgery, was adopted on March 16, based on guidance from the Florida Department of Health.The Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine is expected to adopt an identical rule later this month, and the state has already barred Medicaid from covering gender-affirming treatments for transgender adults wishing to transition.That guidance discourages transgender minors from transitioning — not only medically, but socially, warning medical practitioners that minors with gender dysphoria should not be allowed to present or dress in a manner that does not match their assigned sex at birth.But those restrictions are now leading some parents of transgender or nonbinary minors to consider fleeing Florida in order to ensure their children can present themselves as the gender with which they identify.One of those parents, Heather St. Amand, a Tampa Bay area resident whose lived in the state for nearly her entire life, says the state’s recent decisions targeting those who receive gender-affirming care is motivating her to leave the state, reports Tampa Bay area CBS affiliate WTSP.“For my daughter, if she hadn’t received gender-affirming care when she did, I don’t know that she would still be here,” St.