Ale Mejia
Ale Mejia
Anti Transphobia
According to Edmund Anglero on November 9 2022, Florida State University Students for a Democratic Society held a protest against the recent decision by the Florida Board of Medicine to ban, in a 6-3 vote, gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth. This decision prohibits all types of gender-affirming care for those under 18, including puberty blockers, hormones, cross-hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery. Around 30 people attended the protest in front of the new student union.
The protest was part of a National Week of Action against the so-called “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act,” a bill recently introduced to Congress in the same spirit as Florida’s HB1557, the infamous “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” This bill, introduced by Republicans, would prohibit schools from providing sex education and access to library books with LGBTQ+ topics.
“The Board of Medicine is even going against advice from pediatricians from all over the country. I was on puberty blockers when I was a kid and I’m just fine,” said Ale Mejia, a member of FSUSDS.
Despite the legislative onslaught on LGBTQ+ rights, students recognize the limits of voting as a path towards true liberation. “How can you claim to support trans liberation when you uphold the system that trans people are trying to be liberated from?” questioned FSUSDS member Joel Nunez.
FSUSDS was joined by several other student and community organizations, including FSU Generation Action, VegFSU, Student Farmworker Alliance, Tallahassee Community Action Committee, FAMU Students for a Democratic Society, and the Tallahassee Freedom Road Socialist Organization.[1]