Attorney General Alan Wilson signs on to 22-state brief in support of Florida’s law regulating sex-modification procedures

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson today joined 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.

“Groups that lose at the statehouse often take their fights to the courthouse, and that’s what those who support the practice of transitioning children did in this case,” Attorney General Wilson said. “State legislatures are empowered to pass laws that protect the health and safety of their citizens, and that includes protecting minors from harmful hormones and sex-altering surgeries.”

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.”

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

The full brief is available here.