District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary order blocking Texas state from investigating the parents of a transgender teenager over gender-confirmation treatments.
However, Meachum’s order stopped short of preventing the state from looking into other reports about children receiving similar care, AP reports.
On 2 March, Judge Meachum supplied a halt to an investigation carried out by the Department of Family and Protective Services into the parents of the 16-year-old girl.
In her order, Meachum wrote that the parents and the teen “face the imminent and ongoing deprivation of their constitutional rights, the potential loss of necessary medical care, and the stigma attached to being the subject of an unfounded child abuse investigation.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently compared gender-affirming care for trans youth to “child abuse” and ordered investigations into it.
A hearing for 11 March has been granted which will temporarily block the enforcement of Abbott’s directive.
On 22 February, the 64-year-old wrote to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), stating “all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers” should report it immediately or face “criminal penalties”.
According to a lawsuit filed on 1 March, the state has “initiated investigations” into parents of trans adolescents as a result of Abbott’s letter.
Ken Paxton, the attorney general in Texas, said the medical procedures are a violation of state law in a nonbinding legal opinion that followed the letter.
The issued lawsuit marks the first report of parents to transgender children being investigated following Abbott’s directive.
Brian Klosterboer, ACLU of Texas attorney expressed gratitude to “the relief granted to our clients”, but stressed the situation “should never have happened and is unfathomably cruel”.
Klosterboer added: “Families should not have to fear being separated because they are providing the best possible health care for their children.”
On Tuesday (2 March), The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal sued Texas on behalf of the teen.
“We are relieved that – at least for now – the threat of a child abuse investigation is no longer hanging over the heads of the family members in this case,” said Paul Castillo, senior counsel for Lambda Legal.
He said it was “unconscionable” for DFPS to “still pursue any investigation or inflict more trauma and harm”.
Texas joins both Arkansas and Tennessee in promoting discriminatory anti-trans regulations. Last year Arkansas became the first state to pass a law prohibiting gender confirming treatments for minors, and Tennessee approved a similar bill.
Latest
