A judge in Texas temporarily blocked an order from Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to investigate parents obtaining “sex-change” procedures for their transgender children as incidents of child abuse.
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction Friday based on a lawsuit from a family with a transgender teenager against the governor’s order. They argue that the order violates the constitutional rights of families with transgender children.
Meacham scheduled the trial in the lawsuit to begin on July 11.
Abbott issued the order in a letter to the Department of Family and Protective Services in February.
“Texas law imposes reporting requirements upon all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, and provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse,” Abbott wrote in the letter.
The order was preceded by a non-legally binding statement from Texas attorney general Ken Paxton saying that gender transitioning “procedures and treatments, when performed on children, can legally constitute child abuse.”
Critics of the order claim that the investigations amount to terrorizing transgender children and their families.
“The judge’s decision reflects the recognition that the governor and department circumvented the legislative process and started a rule that terrorized families who love, support and seek the best care for transgender children,” said Paul Castillo, an attorney with Lambda Legal which represents the victims along with the ACLU.
Castillo argued to the court that Abbott did not have the authority to define what child abuse is and had thereby violated his clients’ rights.
The Biden administration has vowed to take action against Texas over the order, but they have declined to say exactly what that action might be.
The DFPS said that it had opened at least nine investigations into “gender-transitioning procedures” identified as “child abuse” by Abbott.
Here’s more about the Texas trans order:
Texas judge blocks state from conducting transgender child abuse investigations
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