Texas transgender rule briefly blocked

Judge enjoins it; state appeals, resumes investigating families of trans children

A Texas state judge moved Friday to shield a larger group of families from a directive by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that ordered state officials to investigate parents and guardians who sought gender-affirming health care for their transgender children, but an immediate appeal by the state allowed the childabuse probes to continue.

The injunction issued by Travis County District Judge Amy Clark Meachum temporarily blocked the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from “implementing or enforcing” an agency rule, which stemmed from Abbott’s directive, against members of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays — an LGBTQ organization that sued the state over the policy. The injunction additionally shielded Adam and Amber Briggle, who also sued after the Department of Family and Protective Services launched an investigation into the family over their teenage transgender son.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately appealed the injunction, which allowed the state agency to continue investigating the families. A representative for Paxton did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday.

His office argued in court this May that a judge’s decision to temporarily halt the investigations “prevents a state agency from carrying out its statutory duty to investigate reported child abuse.”

Brian Bond, national executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said in a statement “every LGBTQ+ person deserves respect, dignity and the right to access the care they need when they need it.” Adri Perez, a strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said “state leaders have no business interfering with life-saving care essential for transgender youth.”

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services classified several instances in which gender-affirming medical care is sought for a child as requiring an investigation. That followed a Feb. 22 letter by Abbott to Jaime Masters, the commissioner of the agency, instructing it to investigate any instances of such “abusive procedures.” Abbott cited a nonbinding opinion by Paxton that gender-affirming care “can legally constitute child abuse.”

Meachum’s order sought to block the agency from investigating families solely on “allegations that they have a minor child who is gender transitioning or alleged to be receiving or being prescribed medical treatment for gender dysphoria,” or on allegations that they have a child who is transgender or otherwise gender-nonconforming.

She wrote in her ruling that such investigations could cause “probable, imminent and irreparable injury” to the families, including “gross invasions of privacy in the home and school, and the resulting trauma felt” by the family, as well as an increased risk of depression and suicide.

The Texas battle comes as the rights of young transgender people are heavily contested across the country.

In Montana, officials said Thursday they would stop transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificate, in defiance of a judge’s order. Virginia announced Friday it would require transgender students to use school facilities and programs according to the sex they were assigned at birth.

Texas under Abbott has increasingly become a bastion of conservative social policies.

The state has among the strictest abortion laws in the country. Abbott last week said he was responsible for sending two buses of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to the official residence of Vice President Harris.