ORLANDO, Fla. — Two state medical boards voted Friday to prohibit gender-affirming treatment for patients in Florida under the age of 18, despite warnings from some parents and practitioners that the ban will harm transgender youth.
The decision by the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine to prohibit puberty blockers, cross-hormonal treatment and gender-affirming surgery as methods to treat gender dysphoria in minors followed a pair of acrimonious public meetings in Orlando.
Even as they approved the ban on Friday, the boards differed on whether to grant an exception for gender-affirming treatment under research purposes.
