Transgender advocates say Florida ruling bodes well for future challenge of Iowa law

Transgender Iowans and LGBTQ and civil rights advocates praised a ruling Tuesday by a federal judge in Florida temporarily blocking portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, stating “gender identity is real.”

The judge ruled that Florida had no "legitimate state interest“ for denying patients treatment.

“What we’ve seen from federal courts over and over is these laws are unconstitutional and blatantly discriminatory,” Keenan Crow, a lobbyist with LGBTQ activist group One Iowa, told The Gazette.

“It’s the strongest worded ruling that we’ve seen thus far,” Crow said. “It really lays it out in no uncertain terms” that banning treatment for minors ignores the benefits that many patients realize and the substantial risk posed by foregoing the treatments.

“I appreciated that the judge validates that gender identity is real in plain language, and anybody who tries to say different has their work ahead of them,” Crow said.

While the Florida ruling does not directly apply to Iowa, Crow said it helps sets the groundwork for a future legal challenge to a similar ban signed into law in March by Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.

“There is no such thing as a ruling in a vacuum,” Crow said. “Judges in other courts are not oblivious to the legal rationale of other judges. And the totality of rulings we’re getting and the legal consensus out of the federal court so far bodes well for a future challenge.”

Iowa Senate File 538 prohibits Iowa doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to transgender children under the age of 18. It also prohibits any surgeries on minors "if the practice is performed for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of, or affirm the minor's perception of, the minor's gender or sex, if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor's sex."

Doctors who violate the law would be subject to discipline from a state licensing board, and individuals could bring lawsuits against doctors who perform gender-affirming care. Teens receiving hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care had six months from the measure being signed into law March 22 to discontinue treatments in Iowa.

They can still seek treatment in other states, and the law does not prohibit doctors from referring their patients to out-of-state providers.

A lawsuit challenging the Iowa law has not been filed. Activists and civil rights attorneys in the state say they are watching and waiting on the outcome of a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling over a similar ban in Arkansas before deciding about moving ahead here.

A U.S. District Court judge issued a temporary injunction in August 2021, putting the Arkansas law on hold pending resolution of the suit. A three-judge panel on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Iowa, upheld the injunction in August 2022.

Opponents note the new Iowa law conflicts with both state and federal civil rights protections. Gender identity was added as a protected class to the Iowa Civil Rights Act in 2007.

Republican state lawmakers, though, have introduced bills — including this past legislative session — to remove gender identity as a class from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, stripping transgender Iowans of protections in the areas of housing, employment, education, public accommodations and credit practices.

The new Iowa law states, “Compliance with, or enforcement or implementation of this section shall not constitute a violation of any provision of” the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

Republican supporters of the legislation have argued that minors aren't mature enough to fully comprehend the potential consequences of medically transitioning, even though providers require parental permission. Reynolds and Iowa GOP lawmakers also have said they do not believe the science is settled on the long-term impacts of gender-affirming care, citing other countries that have restricted the treatments.

Critics contend the measures endangers the safety, welfare and autonomy of transgender and gender-fluid youth, and adds to existing stigma and discrimination of LGBTQ youth, who face higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide than their peers.

Major medical groups in the United States, including the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, say the treatments are safe and the vast majority of studies show that the care leads to better mental health outcomes.

"With gender-affirming care, it should be parents, doctors, and mental health professionals who make these decisions — not politicians trying to score political points by throwing transgender kids under the bus,“ Mark Stringer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said in a statement to The Gazette.

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