Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed judicial activists who repeatedly strike down Florida laws they disagree with, only for their rulings to be consistently overturned by higher courts. His remarks came on Wednesday after federal Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee, known for routinely striking down bills signed by DeSantis, batted down Florida's new law aimed at protecting minors from transgender procedures and treatments.

DeSantis stated, "It is wrong to perform a sex change on a 16 year old, you're not allowed to get a tattoo, but somehow you can have your privates cut off? Give me a break. This is wrong." He expressed confidence that the ruling would be reversed, pointing to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to uphold a similar law in Alabama.

Reporter question from today's press conference: "Your office told us that you plan to appeal the gender-affirming ruling from yesterday. So my question today, since we're talking about the budget of taxpayer dollars, why should taxpayer dollars go to this case for the appeal?"… pic.twitter.com/e7WuCdD1bM

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) June 12, 2024

“Think about it, when the founding fathers were creating the Constitution, and when the first Congress passed the Bill of Rights or even when they passed the Reconstruction Amendments in the 1860s, do you think a single person involved in that thought that there was a constitutional right to do this genital mutilation? It’s ridiculous,” he said. “Of course, a state can protect children against this. And we have very powerful testimony how this is irreversible.”

“So if you’re not willing to defend Florida’s duly enacted statutes against liberal jurisprudence, then you’re basically saying the people of Florida shouldn’t govern themselves,” he continued. “And that we should just turn over our destiny to some trial judge somewhere. That I refuse to do, we are going to stand up for duly enacted statutes, we’re going to stand up for protecting the innocence of these kids."

The governor also took aim at those who profit from performing sex changes on teenagers, accusing them of prioritizing financial gain over the long-term consequences for the individuals undergoing these procedures. He criticized the use of the term "gender affirming care," asserting that it is an attempt to change basic biology.

But I would say it goes beyond that. Because what this is doing, when they’re doing a sex change on a teenager, there’s a lot of people that want to make money off that, consequences be damned, they’re lying in their pockets and they could care less about what’s going to happen to that teenager when they become 25 — which many regret and have big time problems as a result of that.”

“But it’s also just a fact of, you use the term ‘gender affirming care’, which is what media uses and what the left uses,” he added. “You’re not affirming that, you’re trying to change their basic biology, which you cannot do. You cannot do that. You know, how you’re born is what you are. And so I think it’s about are we going to be rooted in truth as a society or not? And if we’re rooted in truth, then you would say, of course, you can’t do the surgeries, because it’s not going to take and transform somebody that’s a male into a female. So we’ll win that appeal.”