US District Judge Robert Hinkle, appointed by Bill Clinton, has ruled that taxpayers must fund sex changes in Florida through Medicaid — including for minors.
The same judge partially blocked enforcement of the state’s ban on sex changes for minors earlier this month.
Judge Hinkle’s 54-page ruling was littered with his liberal political beliefs.
In a section titled, “Gender identity is real,” Hinkle wrote, “The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear.”
“Any proponent of the challenged rule and statute should put up or shut up: do you acknowledge that there are individuals with actual gender identities opposite their natal sex, or do you not? Dog whistles ought not be tolerated,” Hinkle continued.
The judge also compared being able to get Medicaid-covered sex changes to being discriminated against based on race.
“Race is the paradigm—leaving aside affirmative action as a remedy for prior discrimination, it is almost never appropriate to parcel out government benefits or burdens based on race. Transgender status is much the same. Transgender status is rarely an appropriate basis on which to parcel out government benefits or burdens.”
Hinkle claimed that transgender people “continue to suffer widespread private opprobrium and governmental discrimination, notably in the rule and statute now under review.”
The plaintiffs in the case were two transgender adults, August Dekker and Brit Rothstein, and two “transgender” minors who used pseudonyms.
Dekker is 29, and Rothstein is “under 21, but over 18.”
“Trans people are now subjected to the exact same rules as everyone else,” the plaintiff’s attorney Simone Chriss told Axios.
Cassandra MacDonald
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