For two years, parents watched their children get rushed into life-altering medical procedures by doctors claiming the science was settled.
Now Florida is bringing receipts that could blow the whole operation wide open.
And Florida just exposed what three major medical groups knew about child gender surgeries all along.
Florida Drops RICO Charges On Medical Establishment
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a 75-page lawsuit Tuesday targeting the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society.¹
The lawsuit brings charges under both Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the state's RICO statute.
That's racketeering charges — the kind prosecutors use against organized crime families.
"We believe these organizations failed to disclose the risks, limits and evidence in promoting so-called 'gender-affirming care for children,'" Uthmeier announced.² "For years, these groups insisted the recommendations were settled science."
Then Uthmeier dropped the hammer.
"But behind closed doors, they knew the evidence was weak, they knew the outcomes uncertain and the risks very real," he stated.³
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/1998433573993398563?s=20
The lawsuit accuses these organizations of running a coordinated campaign to develop clinical guidelines recommending sex interventions for pediatric gender dysphoria — then circulating those guidelines "to sell memberships."⁴
Florida claims these groups generated demand for procedures that "irreversibly mutilate and chemically alter children's bodies without providing any credible medical benefit."⁵
Leaked Files Reveal Doctors Knew Children Couldn't Consent
The timing of Uthmeier's lawsuit isn't coincidental.
The case heavily references the "WPATH Files" — leaked internal documents from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health published in 2024 by Environmental Progress.⁶
Those files exposed WPATH members admitting children receiving these procedures couldn't provide informed consent.
The leaked messages showed doctors discussing patients with severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia getting approved for hormones and surgeries.⁷
In one exchange, a WPATH member admitted about discussing fertility impacts with children: "most of the kids are nowhere in any kind of brain space to really talk about it in a serious way."⁸
Yet doctors proceeded with life-altering surgeries anyway.
The documents revealed WPATH members knew puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries would cause infertility and other complications including cancer and pelvic floor dysfunction.⁹
Alabama obtained these same documents during their legal fight over banning pediatric gender procedures — and now Florida is weaponizing them in court.
The Florida lawsuit states the leaked files "reveal that WPATH's representations about the development and rigor of the SOC-8 range from highly misleading to brazenly false."¹⁰
https://twitter.com/donoharm/status/1998464237274902611?s=20
Medical Groups Put Profits Over Children's Safety
Florida's lawsuit lays out a damning financial motive.
The state accuses these organizations of capitalizing "on the mental distress of children — as well as the natural affections and fears [of] their parents — to help their members sell lucrative surgeries and drugs."¹¹
WPATH's latest Standards of Care, released in 2022, recommend puberty blockers as early as age 9 — but removed all age minimums for cross-sex hormones and gender surgeries.¹²
The lawsuit claims WPATH made those changes under political pressure from Biden Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine and the American Academy of Pediatrics.¹³
Florida argues these guidelines created a facade of legitimacy by having the three organizations reference each other's work over an extended period.
Parents were told their children would commit suicide without these procedures — but the organizations knew "there is no credible evidence that puberty blockers are 'fully reversible' or that sex interventions lead to positive mental health outcomes for children or adolescents."¹⁴
Uthmeier wants the court to impose $10,000 penalties for each false claim about procedure safety.¹⁵
He's also asking for $1 million civil penalties against each organization under the RICO statute.¹⁶
The lawsuit seeks to block these organizations from advertising gender procedures as safe and reversible.
This case follows Florida's 2023 law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis banning gender-affirming care for minors — though a federal judge later struck down the ban before an appeals court stayed that ruling.¹⁷
Conservative groups rallied behind Uthmeier's action.
"These groups have obfuscated risk and misrepresented the low quality of evidence to support puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and surgeries for children," Do No Harm medical director Kurt Miceli told The Daily Wire.¹⁸
The medical establishment spent years claiming anyone questioning these procedures was anti-science.
Now Florida is forcing them to defend their science in court — with their own leaked documents as evidence.
¹ Stephen G. Adubato, "Florida Sues 3 Trans Groomer Groups For 'Mutilating Kids And Misleading Families,'" The Federalist, December 9, 2025.
² Valerie Richardson, "Florida sues medical associations for endorsing 'gender-affirming care' for minors," The Washington Times, December 9, 2025.
³ Ibid.
⁴ UPI, "Florida sues 3 leading medical groups over gender-affirming care for minors," December 10, 2025.
⁵ Amanda Prestigiacomo, "Florida Brings Down The Hammer On Medical Groups That Pushed Trans Procedures On Children," The Daily Wire, December 9, 2025.
⁶ Richardson, The Washington Times.
⁷ Mia Hughes, "The WPATH Files," Environmental Progress, March 2024.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ Richardson, The Washington Times.
¹¹ Prestigiacomo, The Daily Wire.
¹² Richardson, The Washington Times.
¹³ – ¹⁷ UPI.
¹⁸ Prestigiacomo, The Daily Wire.
