Attorney General Marshall Leads 22 State Brief In Support of Florida’s Law Regulating Sex Modification Procedures

For Immediate Release:
July 19, 2024

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Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
William Califf (334) 604-3230

(Montgomery) - Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall today filed a 22-state amicus brief in support of Florida's request to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the state to enforce its law regulating sex-modification procedures while the district court's order enjoining the law is heard on appeal. The case is Doe v. Surgeon General, State of Florida.

Like half the states in the country and many European nations, Florida puts age limits on sex-change procedures, prohibiting the administration of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries to minors for the purpose of gender transition. In June, a federal district court permanently enjoined enforcement of the law, holding that Florida's legislature acted out of animus against transgender individuals in passing the law.

"Until a few years ago, the notion of providing sex-change treatments to children was practically unthinkable," Attorney General Marshall stated. "But last month, a district court credited its own view of the 'moral universe' over that of the people's elected representatives, unfairly discounting as 'animus' legitimate concerns about providing sterilizing sex-change procedures to vulnerable youth. The Constitution plainly leaves such political judgments to the politically accountable branches of government, not federal judges."

In their brief filed today, the state coalition argued that the Florida district court failed to apply the required presumption of legislative good faith to Florida's law and instead applied the presumption in favor of organizations like the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which advocates for providing minors identifying as transgender with hormonal and surgical interventions. The brief highlighted recently unsealed evidence in Alabama's case revealing that WPATH's recommendations were created in collaboration with "social justice lawyers" who told the group to not even look for evidence because doing so would reveal a lack of evidence and hurt their chances of "affecting policy" and "winning lawsuits."

Attorney General Marshall has been at the forefront of efforts to protect children from irreversible sex change procedures, defending Alabama's law and leading briefs in support of other states' laws. In January, the Eleventh Circuit cleared the way for Alabama's Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act to be enforced.

The Alabama-led brief included attorneys general from the states of: Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

The full brief is available here.

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