A transgender protester injected herself to gasps during a meeting where she and others opposed plans to ban so-called gender affirming care for children. The unnamed woman, who had blue hair and horn-rimmed glasses, declared: ‘I was once a trans youth, and now I’m a happy 22-year-old trans adult… this is my healthcare, don’t tread on it.’

Other notable speakers include a person who didn’t share their gender identity, but who said they first considered suicide aged just two. That person told the hearing how they’d gone on to attempt to remove their own breasts aged just 15. ‘By the time I was 15, I attempted to slice my own breasts off,’ they added. ‘I went to the ER because I was bleeding out.’ 

Florida officials heard numerous claims that blood will be on their hands if they were to support the bill, while several others made connections to Nazi-era Germany. The scenes occurred during a public hearing with the Florida Senate Committee on Health Policy at the state’s legislature in Tallahassee. 

The bill also includes a provision that would give courts in the state jurisdiction to take control of custody of a child to prevent them from receiving sex-reassignment procedures or prescriptions.

Another protestor took aim at Florida state senator Clay Yarborough, one of the leaders of Florida’s push to legislate on transgender issues. 

She said Yarborough has ‘militarized’ the Florida GOP into a ‘genital gestapo’. 

‘Ron DeSantis wants trans people dead,’ she added. ‘You are committing genocide.’ 

Clarifying the legislation’s stance on child custody, Florida State Senator Yarborough said in a statement released on Monday: ‘This bill gives the court discretion on whether and how to act to protect a child when a parent is subjecting a child to sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures that this bill makes illegal in Florida.