Ron DeSantis BANS child sex changes in Florida, limits use of ‘preferred pronouns’ in schools

DeSantis touted the legislation as part of his ongoing effort to "Let Kids Be Kids" again.

DeSantis explained that SB 254 "will permanently outlaw the mutilation of minors," as well as "the surgical procedures and experimental puberty blockers for minors."

Furthermore, it will "give the courts temporary jurisdiction to intervene and halt procedures for out-of-state children," thereby making it easier for victims and their families to "recover damages for injury or death resulting from mutilating surgeries or these experimental puberty blockers that are given to a minor."

The new law also impacts adults, making it a requirement that anyone receiving such surgeries be "informed about the irreversible nature and about the dangers of the procedures."

DeSantis went on to explain that HB 1069 "makes sure that Florida students and teachers will never be forced to declare pronouns in school or be forced to use pronouns not based on biological sex."

While signing the bill, he declared that Florida would never play host to the "pronoun Olympics."

"We never did this through all of human history until, like, what, two weeks ago?" he joked, referring to the practice of announcing one's pronouns.

As Fox News reports, DeSantis also signed two other bills, SB 1438 and HB 1521. The latter mandates the use of bathrooms solely based on biological sex, while the former, while not mentioning drag shows explicitly, seeks to prevent children from attending sexually explicit events.

"Look, adult entertainment, you know, people can do what they want with some of that," DeSantis said, "but to have minors there, I mean, you'll have situations where you'll have like an 8-year-old girl there where you have these, like really explicit shows and that is just inappropriate."