Hundreds protest pro-conversion therapy bill in Florida

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ Floridians protested a proposed bill that would require health insurance companies to cover services related to de-transitioning, including “conversion therapy” to turn transgender people into cisgender individuals. Experts have called such therapy a pseudoscientific and ineffective form of psychological torture.

The bill, H.B. 1639, says that health insurance policies that cover gender-affirming care must also “provide coverage for certain de-transition treatments,” including “mental health or therapeutic services to treat a person’s perception that his or her sex is inconsistent with such person’s sex at birth.”

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The bill would also put into state law a recent rule change requiring trans people to get driver’s licenses that reflect the sex they were assigned at birth rather than their gender identity. This change will forcibly out trans people and put them at immense risk for discrimination and violence, according to civil rights attorney, Harvard Law instructor, and LGBTQ+ activist Alejandra Caraballo.

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Protestors demonstrated against the bill on the steps of the Florida House of Representatives on Wednesday, saying that the proposed legislation will raise insurance costs for all state residents, The Guardian reported.

However, the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Doug Bankson (R), described it as the “compassion and clarity” bill, according to WTVJ. Bankson falsely said that there is “not a lot of history behind” gender transitioning, even though gender-affirming medical procedures have been offered for at least a century. He also denied that his bill targets the trans community.

“It doesn’t mean we’re standing here and saying that the people in this room don’t have the right to seek their wholeness,” Bankson said. “This bill is about making sure that everyone has the right to seek that wholeness.”

Conversion therapy is opposed by the American Psychological Association and often uses questionable methods, including forcing individuals to stop taking hormone replacement therapy and to dress and act in ways that contradict their gender identities. Studies have linked conversion therapy to increased risks for depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts, and former patients have said that it inflicted lasting shame and emotional harm.

Kimberly Cox, a Pasco County mother of a trans child, spoke against Bankson’s bill.

“Honestly, I’m scared, scared for my child, because this is likely to force them back into a lifestyle of depression and anxiety and self-harm. I’m scared for all the people in the LGBTQ community and I’m scared what’s going to happen when you force them back into that closet. I’m scared of what will happen when you try to erase their identity,” Cox told the aforementioned news station. “It’s bad enough that they’re bullied at school and that they’re bullied in these public spaces. Now the biggest fear is the bullies that are creating these laws.”

DeSantis signed a law banning gender-affirming care for trans youth and restricting it for trans adults in 2023.