DeSantis Administration Demands Information on Gender-Transition Services at Florida’s Public Universities

The DeSantis administration is demanding information from 12 Florida universities on services they provide to people seeking gender-transition services.

Governor Ron DeSantis’s budget office issued a memo on January 11 to the public universities requesting data on the number of students or individuals who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria or received treatment, including surgical procedures, in campus clinics over the last five years. The administration gave schools until February 10 to turn over the information.

The memo also asks universities to include information on where the treatment was sought and how many of those cases were first-time visits for treatment or were referred to other facilities. Additionally, the memo asks for information on how many students were diagnosed with gender-identity disorders under a medical classification and for a breakdown of how many people were prescribed puberty blockers, hormones or hormone antagonists, or underwent surgery.

“Our office has learned that several state universities provide services to persons suffering from gender dysphoria. On behalf of the Governor, I hereby request that you respond to the enclosed inquiries related to such services,” Chris Spencer, director of the Office of Policy and Budget for DeSantis, wrote in the memo, which was released Wednesday.

National Review has reached out to governor DeSantis’s office for comment.

Among the schools covered by the request is the University of Florida, which runs a Center for Transgender Health in Jacksonville, and the University of Central Florida, which provides services through its Trans Care Team, per the Miami Herald. Other universities include the University of South Florida through its USF Health branch and Florida State University through its University Health Services division.

The memo comes months after the Florida Board of Medicine and state Board of Osteopathic Medicine voted to ban puberty blockers and sex-reassignment surgery as treatments for transgender minors in the state. Florida is also one of at least nine states that prohibits Medicaid coverage of gender-transition services.

The DeSantis administration similarly requested data from universities earlier this month on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.