Florida seeks to expand gender-affirming care ban; could criminalize pharmacists and counselors

Florida legislators have introduced bills that would expand the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, including felony charges for any health care provider who “aids or abets” such procedures.

LGBTQ+ activists and parents warn that this provision is dangerously vague and would penalize counselors who discuss gender issues with young people or pharmacists who fill prescriptions — something that sponsors of the bills have confirmed, to a degree.

House Bill 743 and Senate Bill 1010 would also authorize the attorney general to investigate and sue health care professionals who violate the law restricting gender-affirming care. Both were voted out of committee this week.

The law, enacted in 2023, already provided for felony charges against doctors who offer gender-affirming procedures to trans minors.

Related: What is gender-affirming care, who uses it, and do they regret it?

The bills’ lead sponsors, both Republicans, have claimed “bad actors” are trying to get around the law. “What we’re seeing is there’s coding that’s actually being used that is becoming the problem, and hundreds of thousands of dollars is spent per child for them to transition, and codes are being misrepresented where they are saying that it’s an indoctrination disorder instead of saying it’s a gender identity disorder,” Rep. Lauren Melo, the House bill’s sponsor, said at a hearing Tuesday, according to Florida Politics. Melo confirmed that if the bill becomes law, it could potentially mean charges against pharmacists.

“The intent of this bill is to continue to protect the children of Florida and hold bad actors accountable,” Sen. Clay Yarborough said at his chamber’s committee hearing that day, the Florida Phoenix reports. Yarborough was the force behind the ban enacted in 2023.

At a press conference Wednesday, Stratton Pollitzer, executive director of Equality Florida, called these bills “more lawsuits for teachers and doctors” legislation. “The vague and dangerous language … would expand the state’s power to investigate health care professionals, counselors, and even teachers who support transgender young people,” he said.

“These bills are smoke bombs — meant to distract Floridians from the complete failure of [Gov.] Ron DeSantis and his allies to address the real crises Floridians are facing: lack of affordability, a housing emergency, and skyrocketing insurance costs,” he added.

Savannah Thompson, a behavioral health therapist, expressed concern in an interview with public radio station WFSU. “This could increase the feelings of fear from my clients who are under 18, but it also can increase the likelihood that these professionals won’t be able to talk with their clients honestly and openly to give them the care and the support that they deserve and need,” she said.

Jon Harris Maurer, public policy director at Equality Florida, also spoke to the station, saying, “The undefined aid and abet provision at the heart of [these bills] turns routine care into a trap. A nurse drawing blood, a pharmacist filling a prescription, or a counselor providing therapy could all be targeted if the attorney general decides that they quote, unquote, assisted in care.”

Some legislators said these bills would put too much power in the attorney general’s hands. “No disrespect to the folks who are here about gender-affirming care, but that’s not what this bill is about,” Democratic Rep. Kelly Skidmore said at the hearing on the House version, Florida Politics reports. “It is about giving one individual and maybe his successors authority that they don’t deserve and they cannot manage. They’ve proven that they cannot be trusted. This is a terrible bill.”

The current attorney general, James Uthmeier, was appointed by DeSantis in February to fill the vacancy created when the governor appointed Ashley Moody to the U.S. Senate, succeeding Marco Rubio, who is now U.S. secretary of state. Uthmeier, formerly DeSantis’s chief of staff, has taken many far-right positions, including anti-LGBTQ+ stances. Critics have accused Uthmeier of misappropriating funds from a Medicaid settlement for political purposes when he was chief of staff. He has said he did nothing illegal.

Related: Florida sues leading medical groups for supporting gender-affirming care

The bills expanding the gender-affirming care ban, which has been the subject of lawsuits but is in force for now, are just part of a slate of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation pending in Florida. The others include HB 641/SB 164, dubbed the “don’t say gay or trans at work” bills by Equality Florida. This legislation would protect people who intentionally misgender coworkers, bar job seekers from identifying as trans or nonbinary on job applications, and block LGBTQ-inclusive cultural competency training in certain workplaces, Equality Florida reports.

HB 347/SB 426 would ban the display of flags regarding “political ideology, race, gender, or sexual orientation” from government buildings. “The terms are so broad that they ban even rainbow imagery on posters, coffee cups, and lapel pins,” Equality Florida notes. “This is blatant censorship.”

But at the press conference, Pollitzer expressed hope for a repeat of last year in the legislature, when several anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced but did not pass. We hope that with real challenges facing everyday Floridians, lawmakers will again refuse to prioritize DeSantis’s agenda of more censorship, surveillance, and government control,” he said.