TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — In response to a request for comment from WFLA regarding a lawsuit against the governor focused on blocking changes to transgender healthcare policy, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health replied with a GIF file clipped from a previous press briefing.

In the response, the FDOH spokeswoman said “Attached a gif. The Department does not comment on pending litigation.”

“If you want to waste your time on a stunt, that’s fine… But I’m not wasting my time on your stunt.” the GIF read.

Nikki Whiting, the communications director for the FDOH, responded after receiving a message from a staff member in the governor’s office.

The GIF was pulled from a briefing by DeSantis on Thursday, where he called a move by the Florida NAACP to request a travel advisory to the Sunshine State warning African Americans to avoid it was “a stunt,” and that as governor he would not waste his time on stunts like it.

Whiting’s forwarding of the GIF was in response to questions about new litigation filed by families in Florida, seeking to prevent a ban on gender reassignment treatments and therapies utilized by some Floridians. The lawsuit was filed in federal court Thursday, in a move to block the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine’s newly instated rules that ban the healthcare option for transgender children.

The four families suing Florida are represented by Southern Legal Council, GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Human Rights Campaign.

“This policy came about through a political process with a predetermined conclusion, and it stands in direct contrast to the overwhelming weight of the evidence and science,” Simone Chriss, Director of Transgender Rights Initiative, Southern Legal Counsel said, explaining the legal challenge. “There is an unbelievable degree of hypocrisy when a state that holds itself out as being deeply concerned with protecting ‘parents’ rights’ strips parents of their right to ensure their children receive appropriate medical care.”

The transgender healthcare ban took effect on March 16, after the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine approved it in November. The administrative rule by the two medical boards was approved ahead of more in-depth plans by some Florida lawmakers.

In recent weeks, amid the March legislative session, Republican lawmakers in the Florida House and Senate have filed a raft of bills aimed at restricting drag show performances, banning the reassignment treatments for minors, preventing transgender residents from updating birth certificates with a different gender, allowing divorced parents to attempt to void custody agreements and remove their kids over allowing gender treatments, even if they live in other states, and directing state agencies to strip venues of liquor licenses for drag performances.

Legislative efforts in Florida go beyond the aforementioned proposals, also branching out into additional updates to Florida education policies, such as expansion of restrictions on discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity through eighth grade.

Separately, an administrative rule by the state executive branch would go even further, blocking it for all students, K-12. Lawmakers have additionally proposed legislation that explicitly defines what the state curriculum considers “sex” as related to biology and identity.

Similarly, targeting discussions or lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation, legislators have also proposed banning any and all college or university degree programs that focus on or involve those topics.