Florida’s SB254 and Access to Trans Healthcare Post Event Resources

Florida’s anti-trans SB254 Bill goes fully in effect on January 4th, 2024, restricting thousands of trans folks who are unable to receive an in-person consent form from receiving gender affirming care. Join our Emergency Florida Care Q&A with co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Plume, Dr. Jerrica Kirkley (she/her), and Civil Rights Attorney from Southern Legal Counsel, Simone Chriss (she/her), to learn more about the impacts of this bill on trans healthcare, understand the requirements for consent forms to receive care, and how Plume is responding.

View Slide Deck

Links and Resources

View our list of resources pulled from the webinar, including bill updates, local LGBTQ organizations, and more! Southern Legal Counsel is the legal organization on the front lines of the fight for transgender rights in Florida, and has challenged each of the laws banning or restricting access to gender-affirming healthcare in federal court. Visit their website for updates on the status of the laws and to understand your rights. Equality Florida is the largest LGBTQ civil rights organization in Florida dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s LGBTQ community. Metro Inclusive Health is an LGBTQ center in several locations in Florida.

Transpire Help offers LGBTQIA+ housing and healthcare resources in Florida.

SPEKTRUM Health is a nurse practitioner-led, gender-affirming care clinic in Florida.

The Movement Advancement Project (MAP) tracks LGBTQ-related state laws.

GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) advocates for LGBTQIA+ equality in employment, housing, health care, and beyond.

80% of trans folks in Florida State were receiving care from APRNs, NPs, and PAs – this an estimate from Spektrum Health based on their clinic numbers.

About Simone Chriss esq. (she/her)

Simone Chriss is a civil rights attorney, and the Director of the Transgender Rights Initiative, at the non-profit public interest organization Southern Legal Counsel (SLC). Chriss graduated from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she received her J.D. with honors. Chriss developed the organizations’ Transgender Rights Initiative in 2016 to fill a gap in access to justice for the transgender community in Florida by systemically providing assistance in areas such as access to legal name and gender marker changes, obtaining accurate IDs, protection from discriminatory laws and policies, representation in accessing a safe and affirming school and work environment, and more. Chriss utilizes federal impact litigation to challenge discriminatory laws and policies that infringe upon the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, and is currently leading four federal lawsuits against the state of Florida, including Dekker v. Weida, Case No. 4:22-cv-00325 (N.D. Fla. 2022), challenging the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration’s (AHCA) discriminatory ban prohibiting Florida’s Medicaid program from covering treatments for gender dysphoria; Jane Doe v. Surgeon General Ladapo, Case No. 4:23-cv-00114 (N.D. Fla. 2023), challenging SB 254 and the Florida Boards of Medicine rules banning doctors from prescribing medically necessary gender-affirming care to minors and imposing restrictions on transgender adults; Wood v. Fla. Department of Education, Case No. 4:23-cv-00526 (N.D. Fla. 2023), challenging the Florida law known as “Don’t Say Gay” that prohibits transgender teachers from using their affirmed pronouns; and Claire v. Florida Department of Management Services, 4:20-cv-00020 (N.D. Fla. 2020), challenging the state of Florida’s blanket exclusion of gender-affirming care in all health insurance plans offered to state employees. View Website

About Dr. Jerrica Kirkley (she/her)

Dr. Jerrica Kirkley is co-founder and chief medical officer of Plume, a virtual healthcare center of excellence dedicated to the transgender and gender nonconforming community which provides gender-affirming medical care through telehealth. She completed medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her family medicine residency at the University of Colorado. She has taught widely on gender-affirming care across academic institutions and large clinic systems. Dr. Kirkley has cared for thousands of gender-diverse individuals and has also been a recipient of gender-affirming care as a patient and trans woman herself. Her mission is to transform healthcare for all to make it more accessible, affordable and aligned with the needs of the individual to help folks live happy and healthy lives. View Website