A federal judge has cleared the way for transgender Florida prison inmates to pursue a class-action lawsuit alleging they were improperly denied accommodations as part of treating gender dysphoria.
Chief U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor last week certified a class action on the accommodations issue, which stems from state corrections officials denying transgender inmates access to certain clothing and grooming, such as makeup. Winsor, however, rejected certifying a class action on other allegations about inmates potentially being denied hormone therapy.
The 13-page ruling came as part of a lawsuit filed in October 2024 after the state revamped policies about transgender inmates. That included barring clothing and grooming accommodations for inmates with gender dysphoria and barring the use of state money for hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria — though “variances” are allowed for hormone therapy, according to court documents.
Five transgender inmates are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and their attorneys sought class-action status to include other inmates with gender dysphoria. At least 180 inmates had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in September 2024, when the policy changes were issued through what is known as a “bulletin,” according to a motion for class certification filed by the plaintiffs’ attorneys in April.
“In sum, the health bulletin denies all putative class members clothing and grooming accommodations, regardless of their medical need for them,” the motion said. “And it puts them at significant risk of being denied hormone therapy because some of the requirements for a variance are unrelated to an individual’s medical need for hormone therapy, and thus, hormone therapy could be denied even when medically necessary.”
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In his class-certification order last week, Winsor wrote that the named plaintiffs had met requirements to pursue a class action on the accommodations issue, concluding that “evidence shows no salient differences between named plaintiffs and other class members. All seem to have lost access to social accommodations in much the same manner.”
But Winsor said the named plaintiffs had not shown legal standing for class certification on the hormone-therapy issue. He wrote that all but one of the named plaintiffs “are receiving hormone treatment and have been for some time. Plaintiffs contend they nonetheless face imminent withdrawal of that treatment. But they have not shown this to be so.”
The class-certification ruling does not resolve the underlying legal issues in the case, which is scheduled for trial in May. The plaintiffs’ attorneys contend that the state’s policies violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment because they deny or threaten to deny medically necessary health care.
The Mayo Clinic website defines gender dysphoria as a “feeling of distress that can happen when a person's gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth.” In seeking class certification, the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote that when untreated, “gender dysphoria can cause significant distress, putting people at increased risk of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicidality and impairing the ability to function in daily life.”
But lawyers for Florida Department of Corrections officials objected to class certification on hormone therapy and accommodations, which are sometimes described as “social transition.” Defendants in the case are Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon and four other officials.
“With respect to social transitioning, named plaintiffs likewise possess no evidence of a violation of their rights or the rights of other putative class members; to the contrary, reasonable medical providers disagree about the medical necessity of social transitioning for inmates with gender dysphoria,” the defendants’ lawyers wrote in a May court document.
The lawsuit has played out amid a series of controversial changes that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ and the Legislature have made affecting transgender people. For example, the state barred puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
The named plaintiffs in the corrections case are Nelson Boothe, a transgender man; Sheila Diamond, a transgender woman; Karter Jackson, a transgender man; Reiyn Keohane, a transgender woman; and Sasha Mendoza, a transgender woman, according to the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. The document filed in May by attorneys for corrections officials used different first names for three of the plaintiffs and a different first and last name for one.
