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Florida Gov. DeSantis signed SB 254 banning gender-affirming care for minors and letting courts seize custody over such care

On May 17, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed CS/SB 254, "Treatments for Sex Reassignment" (Chapter 2023-90), prohibiting gender-affirming prescriptions and procedures for patients under 18 and barring public entities from spending state funds on such care. The law also grants Florida courts temporary emergency jurisdiction over a child present in the state who has been or may be subjected to such care, and defines being subjected to it as "serious physical harm" for child-custody enforcement. DeSantis signed the measure alongside related bills at a ceremony at a Tampa evangelical school.

Jurisdiction
Florida
Location
Tampa, Florida

Abuses documented

Actors

On May 17, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed CS/SB 254, "Treatments for Sex Reassignment," into law as Chapter 2023-90, prohibiting sex-reassignment prescriptions and procedures for patients younger than 18 and barring public entities from expending state funds to provide such care. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Clay Yarborough, also requires the state to immediately suspend the license of a health care practitioner arrested for providing such care to a minor.

Beyond the care ban, the law reaches into family law. It grants Florida courts temporary emergency jurisdiction over a child present in the state who has been subjected to, or is threatened with being subjected to, gender-affirming care, and it provides that "serious physical harm" justifying a warrant to take physical custody of a child in custody-enforcement proceedings includes being subjected to such care. That custody machinery extends the statute beyond regulating medicine to authorizing the state to intervene in the family arrangements of transgender minors and their parents.

DeSantis signed SB 254 alongside related measures at a campaign-style ceremony before a cheering crowd at the evangelical Cambridge Christian School in Tampa, behind a lectern reading "Let Kids Be Kids." Republicans held super-majorities in both legislative chambers and passed the bills over Democratic opposition and LGBTQ+ rallies at the Capitol.

Updates

2024-06-11 — Federal district court struck down the law on the merits [3]

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled Florida's ban on gender-affirming care unconstitutional, finding it violated equal protection and was motivated by "disapproval of transgender people." The ruling applied to both minors and adults and also invalidated related Board of Medicine rules.

2024-08-26 — Eleventh Circuit stayed the ruling, letting the ban take effect [4]

A divided (2-1) panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit stayed Judge Hinkle's order pending the state's appeal, allowing Florida to enforce the ban again. The appeals court heard oral argument in January 2025, and as of mid-2026 the appeal remained pending, with the ban in effect under the stay.

Why we recorded this

Equal protection under the law means the state cannot single people out for worse treatment based on who they are. Florida enacted a law that bans a category of medical care only for transgender people, bars public funds from covering it, and empowers state courts to seize temporary emergency custody of a child who has received or may receive that care. This archive records when government writes discrimination against a minority group into statute and attaches family-separation machinery to it, eroding the guarantee that citizens are treated equally regardless of who they are.

Sources

  1. CS/SB 254: Treatments for Sex Reassignment — The Florida Senate primary accessed July 16, 2026
  2. Florida Gov. DeSantis signs bills targeting drag shows, trans rights and care for transgender children — PBS NewsHour / Associated Press investigative accessed July 16, 2026
  3. Federal Court Permanently Blocks Florida Healthcare Bans and Restrictions for Transgender Adults and Adolescents — Southern Legal Counsel investigative accessed July 16, 2026
  4. Appellate court allows Florida to enforce gender-affirming care ban — Florida Phoenix investigative accessed July 19, 2026

See also