November 11, 2022

WPATH / USPATH Statement of Opposition to Florida Draft Rule Banning Gender Affirming Care for Adolescents

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH) stand in staunch opposition to the unwarranted ban on adolescent gender affirming care approved November 4, 2022, by the Florida Boards of Medicine. Gender affirming care improves quality of life and has been endorsed by major medical associations. The Florida Boards, rather than following the science and consensus-based guidelines established and recently updated by WPATH, have chosen politics over science to deny families and their children vital medical care. Lack of access to gender affirming care adds to a patient's psychosocial stress and is associated with increased suicidality. The proposed ban will result in pain and potential harm for the very constituents it claims to protect. We denounce the proposed draft rule as cruel, counter to medical evidence and discriminatory.

WPATH Executive Committee

USPATH Executive Committee

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Visit https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wijt20 to view the International Journal of Transgender Health with open access to our editorials.