ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After living in Pinellas County for close to 20 years, Kaylee Kerin is loading up her RV.
“This is what me and my children refer to as the escape pod,” she said.
She is getting set to move out of Florida with her two children.
“Would I think I’d be leaving? No. Do I want to leave? No. Do I think It’s the right thing to do? Yes.”
Kaylee said it's the right thing to do because of new laws signed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Some of those laws are focused on gender-affirming care.
“Ultimately, I’d rather get out while it's still safe to do so and it’s easy enough to do so,” she said.
Dr. Bob Wallace, CEO of Love The Golden Rule, Inc., said he is one of the very few physicians in the area willing to still treat transgender patients.
“The transgender community is in a spiral. It’s very sad to see what’s happening,” he said.
He said many clinics are trying to figure out how to operate under the new regulations.
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Nurse practitioners can no longer prescribe hormones, and patients are required to sign informed consent forms.
Doctors and pharmacists are also allowed to refuse to treat transgender people.
“We are afraid of backlash. We don’t know what will happen with some of the crazy community members we have here. But we care about everybody,” said Wallace.
The Governor and many other Republican lawmakers have been outspoken on the new restrictions involving transgender people, but much of their focus has involved children.
“We just need to let our kids be kids. We have a very crazy age that we live in,” said Governor DeSantis.
“You're allowed to be stupid in this country, so there's no desire to stop this for adults. Children, it’s a whole different story. You can't, you know, you can't get a tattoo. You shouldn't be able to cut your breast off,” said Rep. Randy Fine, (R) Palm Bay.
Tristian Byrnes is transgender and also a therapist who helps others.
“The trans community is an easy target because it’s the most misunderstood.”
He said another new law causing confusion and fear involves bathrooms in government buildings.
The law said it’s a misdemeanor trespassing offense to use bathrooms that don’t align with their sex at birth.
“The men are more comfortable in a men’s bathroom than a woman would ever be in the women’s bathroom. So what bathroom am I supposed to go to? By law, in a government building, I'm supposed to go into the women’s room. It doesn’t make any sense,” said Byrnes.
Meanwhile, Kaylee is making final plans to leave Florida, not yet sure where her family will end up.
“I’m leaving just about everything I have because this is scary.”
