Florida Sues Biden Administration Over Attempt to Force State to Fund ‘Gender Transition’ Surgeries for Children

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody in a file photograph. Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

Florida’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its effort to force the Sunshine State to fund “gender transition” surgeries for children, which violates state laws.

The complaint, filed May 6 with the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, claims that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is “threatening the livelihoods” of physicians who “refuse to provide experimental, sterilizing, ‘gender-change’ interventions” for people “suffering from psychological distress,” including minors.

HHS “seeks to redefine the practice of medicine,” the lawsuit says.

It alleges that in order to do this, HHS is seeking to override Florida’s state laws and regulations, designed to protect the health and safety of its citizens. To pressure states into compliance with their new rule, the complaint says HSS is threatening to withhold federal funds from states or insurers that refuse to allow or fund these interventions.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was also named in the lawsuit.

Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) forbids covered entities, including states, from discriminating in health programs or activities “on the ground[s] prohibited under … Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.” Title IX, in turn, prohibits discriminating “on the basis of sex.”

The Title IX changes implemented by the Biden administration prohibit sexual discrimination in schools and modify language to include sexual orientation and gender identity for LGBT students.

HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services publicized the rules (collectively referred to as the “2024 Rules”), appearing to implement Section 1557 of the ACA, on May 6.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office said in a press release that the 2024 Rules exceed the limits of Section 1557 and Title IX by requiring Florida to permit and even pay for the drugs and medical procedures for “gender transition.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 254 into law in May 2023. The measure prohibits “sex-reassignment prescriptions and procedures” for minors under the age of 18, and grants Florida courts the authority to gain temporary emergency custody over a minor who is being subjected to or threatened with “being subjected to sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures.”

It also requires the Florida Department of Health to immediately suspend the license of any health care practitioner who is arrested for committing or attempting to provide those services.

The law also bans the use of state funds for “sex-reassignment prescriptions and procedures.”

The complaint also argues that the effort of HHS to compare therapeutic medical procedures like removing cancerous organs to “removing a healthy organ for a gender transition” is a “false equivalency.”

Citing numerous reasons why the 2024 Rules are unlawful and harmful to the state, Florida asks the court to vacate the 2024 Rules, to issue preliminary and permanent injunctive relief enjoining enforcement, and to declare that the 2024 Rules are arbitrary and conflict with law.

Ms. Moody is joined in the lawsuit by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, the Florida Department of Management Services, and the Catholic Medical Association.

Almost half of America’s states have passed legislation banning medical sex-change procedures for minors.

Biden’s Transgender Agenda

From the beginning of his presidency, President Joe Biden has been pushing policies to promote gender ideology.

On his first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order calling for the heads of government agencies to consult with the U.S. Attorney General to eliminate discriminatory rules or regulations in any “existing orders, regulations, guidance documents, policies, programs, or other agency actions” that were based on “gender identity or sexual orientation.”

This included rules limiting access to bathrooms, locker rooms, school sports, and health care.

James Esseks, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project applauded the order in a press release at the time, saying it’s “a relief to have a government that is committed to preventing discrimination as opposed to enabling it.”

The White House subsequently published a Transgender Equality Toolkit, clarifying the steps that five key agencies are taking to implement the executive order.

In March 2022, the White House implemented changes to federal identification documents like passports and social security records to allow gender identities outside of biological sex.

The Department of Education announced its sweeping changes to Title IX in April.

‘Glad They’re Suing’

Bonnie Gasper is celebrating Florida’s lawsuit.

Ms. Gasper is the vice chair of the Child Protection League Action, a national nonprofit dedicated to protecting children from indoctrination, exploitation, and violence.

“I’m glad they’re suing the Biden Administration,” she told The Epoch Times, saying it’s important for states to protect children from “body mutilating surgeries and chemical and surgical sterilization.”

She described the effort of the Biden administration to force gender ideology on the country as “tone deaf,” saying it resolves none of the underlying mental health issues that many gender-confused children are dealing with.

“Instead, they damage them more by affirming tragic and permanent harms that can’t be undone,” she said.

Ms. Gasper noted the flood of transgender policies, executive orders, and rules President Biden has pushed since moving into the White House, describing it as an example of the “Cloward-Piven Strategy.”

The Cloward-Piven Strategy is a political approach designed to create chaos to prompt a political crisis that will lead to legislative changes that achieve a desired objective.

“It’s meant to overwhelm the system,” she said. “These new transgender policies are a consequence of [former President] Obama’s promise to fundamentally change America.”

“They’re trying to silence doctors from using their professional judgment with their patients, pushing a one-size-fits-all approach to gender-confused children that’s ‘affirmation only,’ and [saying] you must give them puberty blockers and you must cut off healthy organs and chemically castrate them,” she said further.

Ms. Gasper noted the growing number of reports being released with “an abundance of evidence” proving that the “affirmation only” approach to treating gender dysphoria is “not based on science, biology, or ethics.”

A study released in 2023 by Dr. Ching-Fang Sun, a resident at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, revealed that of the 66,078 people worldwide who had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, 80 percent were from the United States. The highest prevalence of a gender dysphoria diagnosis was among 19-year-old biological females and the increasing trend was significantly higher than that of biological males in this demographic.

It also said, “GD is not a permanent diagnosis” and that the development of gender identity “heavily leans on social processes” like exploration, experimentation, the use of digital platforms, and “external feedback.”

A 15-year study conducted by researchers at the Netherlands’ University of Groningen concluded that gender dissatisfaction in early adolescence was attributed to poor self-esteem and mental health problems and that the rise in transgender identification amounted to little more than a fad.

Such evidence, Ms. Gasper said, proves why lawsuits fighting back against permanent, gender-altering procedures for children are so important.

“No child will ever have their sex reassigned,” Ms. Gasper insisted. “It’s a lie and they all know it. Every state should follow Florida’s lead and protect its minor children from these barbaric procedures.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the White House, HHS, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for comment.