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Florida Butts Heads With Federal Guidance on Trans Youth Medical Care in New Memo

The state’s health department issued recommendations against social transitioning, hormone therapy, and gender-affirming surgery.

The Florida Department of Health issued a memo on Wednesday with a plethora of advice to medical professionals on gender transition healthcare for minors, recommending against most gender-affirming treatments in a move that goes against federal guidance. The statement discouraged prescribing gender-affirming surgery, hormone therapy, and puberty-blocking drugs, citing “the potential for long-term, irreversible effects.” It also urged against social transition—including using a different name, pronouns, or dress style. Instead, according to the memo, young people should only “be provided social support by peers and family and seek counseling from a licensed provider.” The guidance is not legally enforceable, but goes directly against federal Health and Human Services advice that points to research demonstrating that medical care like hormonal therapy can vastly improve the lives and wellbeing of transgender and gender-nonconforming youths. Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, however, disputed that, saying that the federal government was bent on “injecting political ideology into the health of our children.”