CHARLESTON W.Va. (WVDN) — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined a 23-state brief in support of Florida’s appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Doe v. Surgeon General, State of Florida . The coalition is urging the court to reverse the district court’s injunction of a Florida law that places restrictions on sex-change procedures and prohibits the administration of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries to minors for the purpose of gender transition.
The brief comes just two months after Alabama led a 22-state coalition (including West Virginia) asking the Court of Appeals to allow Florida to enforce its law while the appeal is heard. The court granted that request last week.
“We are talking about subjecting children to irreversible medical procedures—our job is to safeguard children’s wellbeing, both physical and psychological,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “States must have the right to protect them from these life-altering surgical and chemical procedures.”
West Virginia enacted a law in 2023 banning many medical gender-transition procedures for minors. With certain exceptions, it outlaws those younger than 18 from being prescribed hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The law also bans minors from receiving gender-transition surgery.
Attorney General Morrisey joined the Alabama-led with Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Read a copy of the brief here .