‘Sick procedures:’ Florida announces lawsuit over trans treatments on children

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – On Tuesday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that his office filed a lawsuit over what he dubbed “mutilating children.”

Uthmeier made the announcement on social media Tuesday morning, declaring that the lawsuit is targeting WPATH, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society.

“We believe these organizations failed to disclose the risks, limits and evidence when promoting so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ for children,” he said. “For years, these groups insisted the recommendations were settled science. But behind closed doors, they knew the evidence was weak.”

Since 2022, Florida’s health standards have warned against treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery for minors, citing a “lack of conclusive evidence” and the potential for long-term, irreversible impacts.

Such treatments on minors were broadly banned thanks to a 2023 Florida law.

In a complaint, state officials said that the three defendants would promote these sorts of “extremely profitable” treatments, convincing patients via a campaign that developed “clinical guidelines” to recommend sex intervention for pediatric gender dysphoria.

“Parents were not told the full story. In fact, some parents were told that if they didn’t put their kids through permanent, life-altering, sick procedures like double mastectomies and castration, that their child would commit suicide,” Uthmeier continued.

As such, the lawsuit asks that the three groups’ representations of these treatments be considered an unfair trade practice, as well as imposing statutory penalties of $10,000 for each instance in which the groups “transmitted false or misleading claims” about the efficacy and safety of sex interventions.

You can read the full complaint below: