Florida Republicans have introduced the latest in their string of anti-Transgender bills: a measure that would allow the state to take custody of minors who are receiving gender-affirming medical care.

SB 254 was submitted on March 3, and allows Florida state officials to take custody of minors who are "at risk" or "being subjected" to gender-affirming care. Under the proposal, the state's authority would extend even to minors living outside of Florida.

Critics argued the bill was a legislative attempt to erase Trans people.

"I can't believe I'm writing this," Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former House lawmaker, and the state's first Latino LGTBQ representative, wrote on Twitter when the bill was introduced. "This is fascist."

Alejandra Caraballo, a former staff attorney at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, said on Twitter that SB 254 would empower anti-Trans family members to seize children from more supportive family members and bring them to Florida under cover of the proposed law.

"This is a green light to transphobic family members to engage in state-sponsored kidnapping," she wrote.

Backers of the bill defended their legislation as necessary to "protect children."

"Parents have the right to raise their children as they see fit, and government intervention should be a last resort," Senate President Kathleen Passidomo said in a disingenuous statement.

"Unfortunately, all too often we are hearing about treatments for gender dysphoria being administered to children, often very young children. That's just wrong, and we need to step in and make sure it isn't happening in our state."

In this legislative session, Florida Republicans have also introduced measures that would:
• restrict restroom access for Trans people,
• bar doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care like hormone treatments and puberty blockers to minors, and
• ban teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity to grade school students.

Only the last measure has passed and been signed into law by Florida governor and GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis.

The HRC characterized Florida Republicans' legislative agenda as a "historically bad" slate of bills that would damage Florida's Transgender community.