One of the “subject matter experts” set to testify in favor of a Florida proposal to ban lifesaving gender-affirming health care for trans youth has been quietly removed from the state’s list of witnesses after his public advocacy for pedophiles circulated online ahead of his testimony. 

On October 28, the Florida Board of Medicine will hold a hearing over proposed standards of care for the treatment of gender dysphoria that go against the guidance of several major medical associations. But Dr. James Cantor was recently scrubbed from the hearing’s agenda after it was revealed that he was previously affiliated with the Prostasia Foundation and has advocated for pedophiles to be included under the LGBTQ umbrella. Anti-trans groups claiming to stand against the “grooming” of children have continued to support the Florida proposal.

In April, the state released a report titled “Let Kids Be Kids,” which claimed that “several services for the treatment of gender dysphoria … are not consistent with widely accepted professional medical standards and are experimental and investigational with the potential for harmful long term affects.” As a result, the Florida Department of Health published guidelines stating that no treatment outside of counseling should be administered to transgender youth. This is in direct opposition to the standards of care issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which guides other major organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychiatric Association.

By August, the Florida Board of Medicine voted to begin the rule-making process to implement the new guidelines. Originally scheduled in September, the public meeting was postponed due to Hurricane Ian. The current agenda lists the “subject matter experts” selected to support the state’s anti-trans approach — except for one who was removed after posts about his field of research began to circulate. 

Cantor is a psychologist and neuroscientist who has “been engaged in sex research, teaching, writing, and training new scientists, for over 25 years,” according to his website. His work has a large focus on pedophilia, and he was a volunteer member of Prostasia’s advisory council from 2018-2021.

The Prostasia Foundation is a group that has actively worked to destigmatize pedophilia and campaigned against banning sex dolls that resemble children. It has also hosted a “MAP Support Club” for “minor attracted people,” an acronym considered less stigmatizing than the term pedophile.

In 2018, Cantor declared in a tweet that a “P” for pedophilia should be included in the LGBTQ acronym, saying, “To do otherwise is to betray the principles that give us our rights.”

A 2019 tweet shows Cantor also saying that “pedophilia is NOT inherently wrong or harmful,” and claiming people misattribute the word to child molestation.

While it was discovered on October 24 that Cantor’s name had been quietly removed from the agenda, anti-trans actors and supporters of the proposed standards of care who often claim they are acting in the interests of children have also remained quiet or ignored the situation. 

Gays Against Groomers, a self-described “coalition of gays against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children” with a history of espousing anti-trans rhetoric, has continued to endorse Florida’s proposed policies.

Gays Against Groomers made no mention of Cantor’s removal on Twitter although the group is aware of Prostasia, as it previously rebuked PayPal for allowing the organization to fundraise through the platform.

Jeremy Redfern, the deputy press secretary for openly anti-trans Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, did not address the change on Twitter, but instead shared an endorsement of England’s National Health Service rolling back gender-affirming care.

LGBTQ advocate and clinical instructor at Harvard Law School's cyberlaw clinic Alejandra Caraballo highlighted the hypocrisy of Florida choosing Cantor to testify and the expected silence from Gays Against Groomers.

Correction (10/28/22): This piece originally stated that Dr. James Cantor is an active board member at the Prostasia Foundation. In fact, Cantor was a volunteer member of its nonvoting advisory council from 2018 to 2021, and he currently holds no position at Prostasia.