Under a newly proposed bill in Florida, companies that offer coverage for gender-transition treatments would be held liable for the cost of any eventual detransition care.
The “Reverse Woke Act,” which was introduced by Republican state Senator Blaise Ingoglia on Monday, would make an employer responsible for the cost of detransition care, even if an individual is no longer employed by the company.
The measure would also hold employers that fund out-of-state travel for gender-transition treatments liable for the cost of detransition care. Employers who fail to pay for the “total costs” of treatments to “reverse gender dysphoria treatment” could face lawsuits from current and former employees under the proposed measure.
Ingoglia said the bill is meant to protect Floridians from being “used as political pawns to advance a leftist agenda for the Governor of California.” A new California law aims to make the state a “refuge” for minors receiving gender-transition treatment and their families. The measure protects families with transgender minors from being criminally prosecuted if they travel to the Golden State for gender-transition care.
“Woke businesses need to be held accountable when offering to pay for gender affirming surgeries in other states, such as California, because they are nothing more than political decisions masquerading as healthcare and human resource decisions,” Ingoglia said.
Nearly 30 companies have offered to pay for travel and gender-transition surgeries for Floridians in other states, according to Ingoglia.
The proposal 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.