Ron DeSantis waged a war on trans healthcare. The scars are lasting on Florida

Nicole Levy had gone to the pharmacy to pick up her regular medicine when she suddenly found out it was blocked.

For ten years the 45-year-old transgender woman, who lives in Tampa, Florida, had been getting her hormone replacement therapy (HRT) from the same doctor without any problems. Then, in May 2023, her prescription was denied without explanation.

«I kind of went into a freefall of emotions for a good week, just trying to figure out what was happening,» Levy tells The Independent. «Then, when I did get the [clinic’s] receptionist on the phone, she started to cry.

»In my moment of confusion, I felt like I had to ask her: ‘Are you okay?’ And she said, ‘no.’ She didn’t know how she was gonna get her hormones either."

Both Levy and her doctor’s receptionist, who was also trans, had been caught up in a sweeping surprise attack on trans healthcare for adults by Florida governor Ron DeSantis and the state’s Republican-dominated legislature.

As well as banning gender transition procedures for under-18s, the new law imposed onerous restrictions for adults – including a ban on non-physicians such as nurse practitioners issuing HRT prescriptions – that cut off many people’s treatment overnight and pushed some clinics to stop providing any care at all.

Last month a judge struck that law down as unconstitutional, and both minors and adults can get their meds again. But local activists and clinicians say the year that Republicans all but banned trans healthcare did lasting damage and drove many Sunshine State providers out of the business entirely.

«The fear is absolutely not gone,» says Andre Clarke, a co-founder of the Florida non-profit TransNetwork and practice manager at Love the Golden Rule, an LGBT+-focused medical