Another of Florida’s anti-transgender laws was blocked by a federal judge late Wednesday.
Led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican legislature passed a law last year that denied trans Floridians access to Medicaid for gender-affirming treatments. LGBTQ rights groups in turn sued, with Judge Robert Hinkle issuing his ruling Wednesday.
“Florida has adopted a rule and statute that prohibit Medicaid payment for these treatments even when medically appropriate,” Hinkle wrote in striking down the law. “The rule and statute violate the federal Medicaid statute, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition of sex discrimination.”
Hinkle’s decision was not a surprise. Appointed to the bench by Bill Clinton in 1996, he struck down Florida’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors two weeks earlier.
“Gender identity is real” and the state acknowledged as such, Hinkle wrote Wednesday. Anyone backing the law “should put up or shut up: Do you acknowledge that there are individuals with actual gender identities opposite their natal sex, or do you not? Dog whistles ought not be tolerated.”
DeSantis pushed several anti-trans laws — dubbed “the slate of hate” by LGBTQ advocates — before launching his campaign for president.
Advocacy groups said more than 9,000 Floridians would’ve been unable to receive treatment for gender dysphoria if Hinkle had not struck down the Medicaid ban.
“Gender-affirming medical care is evidence-based care. In court, what matters are the facts and the law, not fearmongering and heated rhetoric,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan of Lambda Legal, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit. “We are gratified by today’s result which protects access to care for some of the most vulnerable Floridians, transgender Medicaid beneficiaries.”