THIS JUST IN: Equality Florida’s Statement on Today’s Victory for Trans Youth
THIS JUST IN: Equality Florida’s Statement on Today’s Victory for Trans Youth
Part of Bette’s series on how Florida is turning the tide back toward humane policies
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In May, I visited Florida in what would become the beginning of a summer filled with inspirational visits to places where people are owning their power and fighting to defend democracy on all fronts.
When I received a note from Jen Taub about the “excellent news from the sunshine state today” when a federal judge in Tallahassee ruled that a Florida law banning gender affirming care for trans youth was unconstitutional, I immediately reached out to Nadine Smith, the Executive Director and co-founder of Equality Florida, for a statement.
Here is what she had to say:
Today’s ruling striking down Florida’s discriminatory restrictions on medical care is a huge victory for the transgender community and for the freedom of all Floridians and their families to make their own private medical decisions.
Despite the Governor and his rubber-stamp GOP supermajority continuously stripping away our rights, brave plaintiffs, lawyers, and judges have dealt another powerful blow to DeSantis’ agenda of censorship, surveillance, and government intrusion into our personal healthcare decisions.
As the court recognized, “Transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs. But they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender.”
We applaud the tenacious work of Southern Legal Counsel, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lowenstein Sandler LLP and the plaintiffs who brought this case forward.—Nadine Smith, Equality Florida
This news comes on the heels of the news I brought you from Florida, on how Equality Florida took the lead in mobilizing thousands of people across the state to show up and help defeat 21 of 22 bills this past legislative session, while also urging school districts impacting 75 percent of the student population to reverse course and return to their original protocols to defend vulnerable populations of students.
Happy tears.
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