{"id":126651,"date":"2026-01-21T17:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/126651\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T17:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:51:08","slug":"parents-of-trans-children-urge-compassion-not-humiliation-in-floridas-schools-doctors-offices-and-government-halls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/126651\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents of trans children urge compassion, not humiliation, in Florida’s schools, doctor’s offices and government halls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Juan Dominguez feared for his child Kai entering a deep depression, angry at the world, before a doctor finally provided a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. The father knew little about transgender identity at the time, but saw an immediate turnaround once Kai was treated.<\/p>\n

But as Florida implemented new laws<\/a> restricting medical professionals from providing gender-affirming care to minors, that doctor can no longer provide care, nor can any other in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctor that helped us identify Kai\u2019s condition can no longer see us. We are not allowed to be open with other doctors because they won\u2019t accept our child in their clinics,\u201d Domingue said. \u201cDoctors spend years studying the research. They know their patients. Medical decisions belong with families and doctors, not politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dominguez was one of several parents to speak Wednesday at an Equality Florida<\/a> press conference in Tallahassee, condemning a new round of laws aimed at LGBTQ Floridians. Parents of transgender children said their children have been humiliated in school, denied care and silenced repeatedly for any objection to what they say are draconian laws.<\/p>\n

Equality Florida Executive Director Stratton Pollitzer said this follows a trend of attacks, ones that too often originate from Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 Office.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s understand why DeSantis and this small band of his cronies are so obsessed with attacking the LGBTQ community,\u201d Pollitzer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese bills are smoke bombs meant to distract Floridians from the complete failure of Ron DeSantis and his allies to address the real crises Floridians are facing: lack of affordability, a housing emergency, and skyrocketing insurance costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The press conference called out legislation, including one dubbed by critics as the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay or Trans at Work\u201d bill threatening funding<\/a> from organizations holding LGBTQ sensitivity training. Activists also took the state to task for many bills passed in prior years, most in a stretch before DeSantis\u2019 ultimately failed<\/a> run for President.<\/p>\n

Those included bans on transgender students in women\u2019s sports, restrictions on medical care being provided to minors and coverage to adults, and the state\u2019s notorious \u201cParental Rights in Education<\/a>\u201d law barring any instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation through high school, a prohibition that includes outlawing the use of preferred pronouns or nicknames by school faculty and staff.<\/p>\n

Luisa Montoya, President of PFLAG Broward<\/a>, said she was upset she could not even register her trans son in school with his preferred name.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of this, my child was repeatedly called by his birth name in front of other students. Sometimes it happened in the classroom, sometimes in the hallway. And once, it even happened over the school megaphone,\u201d Montoya said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never forget the look on my child\u2019s face. That moment reminded me why I fight. Because school should be a place of learning and safety \u2014 not fear or humiliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Solomon, head of Equality Florida\u2019s Parenting with Pride program, stressed that LGBTQ families deserve representation in Tallahassee. And she said parents are one group that won\u2019t be silenced.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook around. These parents are not here as strangers. They are your neighbors, your colleagues, your friends. Every one of them has a child they cherish and a story they want to be heard,\u201d Solomon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fight is not abstract. It is deeply personal. I live it every day \u2014 in every choice I make, in every conversation I have about the future of Florida, and in every moment I stand beside families who are facing these threats with courage and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollitzer said he was heartened in recent Legislative Sessions when, despite anti-LGBTQ legislation being filed and occasionally heard in committee, few bills have passed.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year we saw a growing number of legislators refuse to waste more time on these awful bills and with people power we defeated all of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that with real challenges facing everyday Floridians lawmakers will again refuse to prioritize DeSantis\u2019s agenda of more censorship, surveillance, and government control. But hope does not mean silence. And it does not mean standing down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Juan Dominguez feared for his child Kai entering a deep depression, angry at the world, before a doctor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[62693,56912,28,30,29,62694,62695,18234],"class_list":{"0":"post-126651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-dont-say-gay","9":"tag-equality-florida","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-parenting-with-pride","14":"tag-pflag","15":"tag-transgender"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}