FL Seeks To Jail Trans Kids’ Parents, Authorize Out-of-State Kidnappings

This is literal fascism. I’m not exaggerating. This law will probably pass, though its out-of-state provisions might be Constitutionally barred.

We have to call it for what it is. [Gov. Ron DeSantis] is abusing his power and using the state to target political opponents and political enemies. There’s a word for that, and it’s fascism.

Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.)

At 26 years old, Rep. Maxwell Frost is the youngest member of the U.S. Congress and the first member of Gen Z to serve as a federal lawmaker. In an interview on Sunday, Frost told CNN anchor Jim Acosta that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a fascist. Frost was not exaggerating for effect. He cited DeSantis policies targeting Black, transgender and LGBTQ people before moving on to how DeSantis weaponizes his power against people who disagree with him.

Is Frost right?

Well, one of the classic hallmarks of fascism is the targeting/silencing of critical journalism. Consider that last week DeSantis signaled his support for a Florida bill that would require paid bloggers (like me) to register with the state if we criticize the governor or other senior Florida officials. We’d be required to send Florida authorities copies of our writing and detail who pays us. Florida would levy steep fines if we refused to comply.

That’s classic fascism, but that’s not what I’m writing about today.

DeSantis is doing everything he can to erase the true history of U.S. racism, banning books and banning instruction in high schools and even at university.

That’s also classic fascism, but it’s also not what I’m writing about today. This is:

Florida lawmakers move to seize transgender children and jail their supportive parents

Are you a parent? Do you think you have the right to make medical decisions for your children based on their best interests and the advice of your trusted doctors? Do you have a court order giving you custody or shared custody of your children? Do you believe that court order is legally binding?

Well, if you live in Florida, not so fast. Even if you don’t live in Florida, you’d better read this, because if one of your children is transgender, DeSantis and the Florida Republican Party are coming for you.

Sound fascist? You bet! Here are the details:

Florida GOP lawmakers filed a bill (SB 254) last Friday that is widely expected to pass and receive the governor’s signature. SB 254 would hand Florida courts the power to take “emergency jurisdiction” of transgender youth who receive or are “at risk of receiving” gender-affirming healthcare like puberty blockers or hormone therapy — which researchers and all mainstream medical professional associations call “life-saving.”

The parents of children seized by the state would be subject to child-abuse investigations and face criminal sanctions, including prison time.

The bill would definitively outlaw gender-affirming care for youth, and it would come close to ending affirming care for transgender adults, but more on that after noting that Florida lawmakers are encouraging kidnapping:

SB 254 would encourage legal kidnappings of trans children inside or outside Florida

As Harvard Law Clinic analyst Alejandra Caraballo notes, SB 254 would authorize a noncustodial parent or a parent with joint custody to seize their transgender child from a custodial parent. The law would then require Florida judges to vacate custody rulings if the trans child is receiving gender-affirming care with the support of the custodial parent. Custody would also be vacated if the child is “at risk” of receiving gender-affirming care, with the determination of “at risk” left up to the judge.

Let’s be more clear.

Say Jane Doe supports her 15-year-old trans son in his gender transition. “Bill” used to be deeply depressed and failing at school, but ever since Jane helped Bill live out his trans identity, with the advice and support of Bill’s doctors, he is happy and thriving.

Now imagine Jane’s ex-husband John doesn’t have custody, maybe because a judge once ruled he was not a fit parent, or maybe because John didn’t want the responsibility or just thought Jane was a better parent.

If SB 254 becomes law, John could seize Bill by force and take him before a judge with evidence that the boy is receiving gender-affirming care. If the judge found that Bill were receiving such care, the judge would be required to terminate Jane’s custody and award custody to either John or to the State of Florida.

The judge could refer Jane to the local district attorney for felony child-abuse charges that could land her in prison.

Is this fascism? Of course!

The state has no business stepping between parents and their children. The state has no business telling doctors they can’t practice evidence-based, standards-of-care medicine.

But it gets worse!

SB 254 authorizes Florida parents to kidnap children who live outside Florida with a custodial parent. Non-custodial Florida parents could then ALSO take their child in front of a judge, who would be required to vacate out-of-state custody rulings if the child were found to be receiving trans-affirming care.

Or how about parents who don’t live in Florida at all?

As Caraballo puts it, “A transphobic parent could kidnap their trans child in violation of custody agreements and abscond to Florida and be protected by Florida law under this despite likely committing felony kidnapping in their home state.”

Kidnap your trans kid, and if you can make it to the Florida border, you’re home free!

The only silver lining to this whole mess is that the out-of-state provisions would likely not pass federal Constitutional scrutiny. Federal judges would probably rule that Florida judges don’t have the power to vacate out-of-state custody rulings.

However, given that the federal bench is very conservative these days, legal eagles like Caraballo are not confident that federal judges would hand down rulings that respect traditional Constitutional doctrines of interstate comity.

In other words, federal judges might stand back and allow legal kidnappings.

Fascism? Do I even have to ask the question?

The Florida law would nearly eliminate transition care for transgender adults

SB 254 would ban “all public funding for gender-affirming care for minors and adults.” What does that actually mean? Would it make a difference for ordinary people?

To start, that provision strips all state, county, and municipal employees of coverage for trans healthcare. If you worked for any government entity in Florida — from state rep, to firefighter, to school teacher, to social worker, to Parks and Rec — your state-facilitated health insurance would no longer cover gender-affirming care.

And it gets worse.

Hospitals and clinics receiving state funds would be barred from providing gender-affirming care to anyone. Think that’s no big deal? You’ll just find a private provider?

Well, since almost all Florida hospitals and clinics accept state Medicaid funding, the bill would impose a practical, near-total ban on gender-affirming care for all Florida adults.

Some doctors in private practice would still be able to write prescriptions, but only if they carefully avoided any sort of state reimbursement. Access to hormones would become very restrictive. I suspect many trans adults would reach out to black-market or grey-market sources, losing access to quality care that includes blood tests and regular treatment by trusted professionals.

Low-income people who rely on Medicaid for care? No transition care. Period, end of story.

Is this fascism?

You are not a free person living in a free society if the State forbids you from seeking medical care that all mainstream medical associations recommend and endorse. If the State overrules your doctors to dictate the most private details of your personal life, you are not free. You are living in a fascist world.

Double that if the State takes your children from you and throws you in prison. So, yes, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost is right. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida are literal fascists.

The 2024 election season is already a race to the bottom

The conservative CPAC conference last week hyper focused on transgender and other LGBTQ issues.

Former president Donald Trump took the hardest anti-trans line I’ve ever heard from him. He promised, if elected, to “revoke every Biden policy promoting the sexual mutilation and chemical castration of our youth.” Other speakers were even more crude.

One called for the “eradication of transgenderism,” prompting headlines that refer quite fairly to genocide.

DeSantis has not yet entered the 2024 presidential race, but he’s making the rounds of early Republican primary states, vowing to “make America Florida,” clearly competing with Trump to see who can hate on trans people the hardest.

Whose values will win out?

Can either Trump or DeSantis win the White House? Or will Rep. Maxwell Frost speak for and to his generation? Frost is a young Black Floridian who believes that censoring and suppressing books is wrong, that police reform is necessary and sensible, that permitless carry of concealed pistols is stupid and plain scary, and that queer people need to be free to live in peace.

I know who I’m rooting for.

I believe Gen Z is with me, and I hope they come out in massive numbers in the upcoming election season.

In the meantime, I’m scared, as are many of my queer friends. The GOP has made clear that 2024 will be about villainizing us. They don’t have anything else to offer the nation, so we’re going to be their blood sport.

Can you help? You bet!

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