Doe v. Ladapo is the case brought by transgender plaintiffs in Florida challenging SB 254, a law prohibiting gender-affirming medical treatment for minors and severely restricting access to care for trans adults since its enactment on May 17, 2023. In addition to outlawing treatment for trans minors, SB 254 requires adults to see a physician in-person before starting hormone therapy, and excludes nurse practitioners from prescribing any hormone therapy for the purposes of transitioning. In October, Doe was certified as a class action that includes all trans adults and minors seeking gender-affirming treatment in Florida (ECF 166). The trial itself is scheduled to begin on December 13 (ECF 165), and the plaintiffs and state defendants have now filed their exhibits in advance of the trial.
Exhibit and witness lists:
Trial briefs:
Dozens of these exhibits offer significant new details describing how Florida’s Executive Office of the Governor, Department of Health, Agency for Health Care Administration, Board of Medicine, and Board of Osteopathic Medicine worked with anti-trans groups throughout 2022 to achieve the predetermined outcome of restricting gender-affirming care. We now know that the state was covertly assisted in this effort by the leadership of the anti-trans group Genspect, Child & Parental Rights Campaign lawyer Vernadette Broyles, and Riittakerttu Kaltiala of Finland’s Tampere University youth gender clinic; Hilary Cass of NHS England’s Cass Review also privately expressed an interest in the sham report against gender-affirming care commissioned by Florida’s AHCA. Several individuals worked behind the scenes with Patrick Hunter, a leading member of the anti-trans Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM). After being appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to the Board of Medicine, Hunter arranged for extensive anti-trans testimony from SEGM associates to be submitted to the Boards of Medicine and Osteopathy. We’ve highlighted this and other notable new findings that expose the plot against gender-affirming care in Florida and beyond. Continue reading →