Florida's DeSantis to sign bill banning gender-change procedures on kids

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to sign a bill legislators sent him that would prevent doctors from performing gender-change procedures on children and prescribing drugs to that end.

The bill, which passed on Thursday in the House largely along political lines, would also ban the use of state money for such procedures and place new restrictions on adults seeking similar changes too.

It's the latest in LGBTQ-related bills that the Florida Legislature has passed as the Republican DeSantis prepares to launch a presidential campaign.

It was sent to the governor with just one day left in the annual legislative session.

Republican Representative Ralph Massullo, who co-sponsored the bill, said that children "need to come to a point where they realise their gender and are able to accept themselves."

During the debate in the lower House, Massullo stated, "We cannot speak something into existence that doesn't exist. We cannot change our sex," according to statements reported by the Miami Herald.

"And for those children that this bill addresses, they cannot change their sex, and they need to learn that fact," he added.

Bill co-sponsor Republican Representative Randy Fine likened gender-change methods to child abuse.

Democrats argued the bill wasn't needed and that it is a decision that parents should make with children's doctors despite global concerns over unnatural and prohibited [in many countries] modifications to the human body.

DeSantis supports the legislation.

DeSantis has pushed for restrictions on gender and sexuality lessons in schools, a ban on trans girls and women from school sports, necessary to ensure competitive fairness. He has also made it easier for parents to block school books with misleading LGBTQ subjects.

Restricting gender-change procedures has become a major campaign of US conservatives.

A dozen Republican-controlled states have passed laws similar to the Florida bill in recent months which they claim helps protect families and society.