JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Thursday, Florida legislators passed a bill banning gender-affirming care for children.
"Trans people are not evil we get accused that we think that. They're not evil. But you know what, they're the victims of those who are," House Representative Randy Fine said.
"They just want to be their authentic selves and access the healthcare they need to do so," House Eepresentative Anna V. Eskamani said.
A group of parents of transgender youth is fighting back.
The group has two lawsuits against the state.
One challenges the Florida Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine's rules banning doctors from prescribing gender-affirming care to minors.
Simone Chriss, the attorney representing the parents, says the ruling was put into the senate bill.
"But, the piece that we are challenging under our existing lawsuit on behalf of the seven families we're representing is the provision that bans doctors from prescribing this care and threatens them with the penalty of both losing their license to practice medicine but also with a felony," Chriss said.
The parents are asking a federal court to block the bill before it goes into effect.
"Yet these parents are being stripped of their most fundamental deeply rooted right to make medical decisions that are in the best interest of their children aligned with what their children's medical providers are recommending," Chriss said.
Chriss said the only option for transgender kids to get the care they need is to leave the state.
"People really really feel unsafe and unwelcome here and that's devastating cause we're losing really good people it's a very scary time to be a trans person or the parent or loved one of a trans person," Chriss said.
First Coast News reached out to state senator, Clay Yarborough, who sponsored the bill, but has not heard back at this time.