(Trends Wide) — A judge in Texas has blocked the state from enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to investigate gender-affirming care for minors as “child abuse.”
“The court finds sufficient cause to issue a temporary injunction,” Travis County Judge Amy Clark Meachum said Friday night.
The judge said Abbott’s order was “beyond the scope of his authority and unconstitutional,” saying the parents of a transgender child and a psychologist who sued the governor would likely prevail in their case.
The ruling came the same day parents and activists spoke out against such investigations during a public comment session at a meeting of the Texas Council for Family and Protective Services in Austin.
“Children will die by order of Governor Abbott,” warned the mother of a teenager who, she said, attempted suicide at age 12 after coming out as transgender.
In late February, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared that gender-affirming surgical procedures on children and the prescription of drugs that affect puberty are considered “child abuse.”
In response to Paxton’s surprising legal opinion, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) “to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instance of these abusive procedures in the state of Texas.”
In district court, where Judge Amy Clark Meachum ruled last week that the state had to halt a child abuse investigation of a DFPS employee and her family named in a lawsuit, a child protective services supervisor testified. he had resigned largely due to investigations. She called the inquiries an “overreach” in a “private medical decision” between a parent, a child and her doctor.
Lambda Legal attorney Paul Castillo called the state directive a “gross overreach” that sought to “expand the definition of ‘child abuse’ against transgender youth and the parents who support them.”
A state deputy attorney general argued that the judiciary could not “violate” the ability of the executive branch to ensure the welfare of children.
“Gender-affirming care saves lives,” says family
At the meeting of the Texas Council for Family and Protective Services, dozens of people urged the state to remember that its duty is to protect all minors, including transgender children. The activists, including nurses and child care workers, read statements from trans youth and parents who said they were terrified to appear in person.
In a statement, a parent asked: “How can anyone not want a child to feel comfortable in their own skin?”
“We hope we can give them the tools to be the best version of themselves without the fear of our son being ripped out of a loving home,” the father added.
An attorney read a statement from a grandparent of a transgender child who said his son’s family will be moving out of Texas because of the governor’s order.
Another statement was titled: “Don’t make us write our transgender son’s obituary.”
The family wrote that “gender-affirming care is life-saving care.”
Ricardo Martinez, CEO of the LGBTQ rights group Equality of Texas, said he had a message for youth: “To trans youth across Texas and the country: You have done absolutely nothing wrong. You are perfect just the way you are. And there is countless people across Texas, across this country, around the world fighting to protect their right to authentically exist.”
The investigations opened by Texas
Texas has opened nine investigations into alleged abuse of minors receiving gender-affirming health care, Patrick Crimmins, a DFPS spokesman, told Trends Wide on Thursday.
Civil rights groups said at a court hearing last week that they were aware of at least three families under investigation.
The state’s actions have been widely criticized as an attack on transgender children.
Abbott and Paxton appealed Meachum’s decision, but the state’s Third Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal on jurisdiction.
Meachum’s temporary restraining order came after the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the LGBTQ civil rights organization Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of a transgender girl.
The boy’s mother, a DFPS employee, had been laid off from her job due to Paxton’s legal opinion that declared gender-affirming treatments and procedures for transgender children to be a form of child abuse.
Trends Wide’s Nicole Chavez and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
(Trends Wide) — A judge in Texas has blocked the state from enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to investigate gender-affirming care for minors as “child abuse.”
“The court finds sufficient cause to issue a temporary injunction,” Travis County Judge Amy Clark Meachum said Friday night.
The judge said Abbott’s order was “beyond the scope of his authority and unconstitutional,” saying the parents of a transgender child and a psychologist who sued the governor would likely prevail in their case.
The ruling came the same day parents and activists spoke out against such investigations during a public comment session at a meeting of the Texas Council for Family and Protective Services in Austin.
“Children will die by order of Governor Abbott,” warned the mother of a teenager who, she said, attempted suicide at age 12 after coming out as transgender.
In late February, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared that gender-affirming surgical procedures on children and the prescription of drugs that affect puberty are considered “child abuse.”
In response to Paxton’s surprising legal opinion, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) “to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instance of these abusive procedures in the state of Texas.”
In district court, where Judge Amy Clark Meachum ruled last week that the state had to halt a child abuse investigation of a DFPS employee and her family named in a lawsuit, a child protective services supervisor testified. he had resigned largely due to investigations. She called the inquiries an “overreach” in a “private medical decision” between a parent, a child and her doctor.
Lambda Legal attorney Paul Castillo called the state directive a “gross overreach” that sought to “expand the definition of ‘child abuse’ against transgender youth and the parents who support them.”
A state deputy attorney general argued that the judiciary could not “violate” the ability of the executive branch to ensure the welfare of children.
“Gender-affirming care saves lives,” says family
At the meeting of the Texas Council for Family and Protective Services, dozens of people urged the state to remember that its duty is to protect all minors, including transgender children. The activists, including nurses and child care workers, read statements from trans youth and parents who said they were terrified to appear in person.
In a statement, a parent asked: “How can anyone not want a child to feel comfortable in their own skin?”
“We hope we can give them the tools to be the best version of themselves without the fear of our son being ripped out of a loving home,” the father added.
An attorney read a statement from a grandparent of a transgender child who said his son’s family will be moving out of Texas because of the governor’s order.
Another statement was titled: “Don’t make us write our transgender son’s obituary.”
The family wrote that “gender-affirming care is life-saving care.”
Ricardo Martinez, CEO of the LGBTQ rights group Equality of Texas, said he had a message for youth: “To trans youth across Texas and the country: You have done absolutely nothing wrong. You are perfect just the way you are. And there is countless people across Texas, across this country, around the world fighting to protect their right to authentically exist.”
The investigations opened by Texas
Texas has opened nine investigations into alleged abuse of minors receiving gender-affirming health care, Patrick Crimmins, a DFPS spokesman, told Trends Wide on Thursday.
Civil rights groups said at a court hearing last week that they were aware of at least three families under investigation.
The state’s actions have been widely criticized as an attack on transgender children.
Abbott and Paxton appealed Meachum’s decision, but the state’s Third Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal on jurisdiction.
Meachum’s temporary restraining order came after the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the LGBTQ civil rights organization Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of a transgender girl.
The boy’s mother, a DFPS employee, had been laid off from her job due to Paxton’s legal opinion that declared gender-affirming treatments and procedures for transgender children to be a form of child abuse.
Trends Wide’s Nicole Chavez and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.