Texas Employees of the Child Protection Agency have launched an investigation into the parents of transgender children for possible allegations of child abuse, including one of the agency’s own employees who has a 16-year-old trans daughter.
republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the U.S. Department of Family and Welfare Services to investigate reports of “gender reassignment procedures” such as anti-puberty drugs last Tuesday.
This came a day after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is also a Republican, issued a statement declaring such proceedings to be child abuse under existing Texas law.
One of the agency’s employees, who has a transgender daughter, was visited by agency staff on Friday, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the woman identified as Jane Doe by the American Civil Liberties Union in Texas and LGBTQ Lambda Legal Civil Rights Group.
Texas Child Protection Agency officials have begun investigating parents of transgender children for possible allegations of child abuse under an order issued last week by Gov. Greg Abbott
One of the agency’s employees, who has a transgender daughter, was among the first to be investigated. A group of health workers protested against the governor’s order in the state Capitol building on Tuesday.
Since then, the employee has filed a lawsuit in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in Texas and the LGBTQ civil rights group Lambda Legal.
The court aims to block the agency’s request for medical records and challenge the constitutionality of the governor’s order.
The abuse and negligence report was taken on administrative leave the day after Abbott’s order and has since been asked by agency officials to submit medical records related to her child, who was identified in the case as Mary. Doe.
The court aims to block the agency’s request for medical records and challenge the constitutionality of both the investigation and the governor’s order.
“We are appalled by Mary’s health and well-being, as well as our family,” Jane Doe said in a statement filed with the case. “I feel betrayed by my country and the agency I work for. Not providing Mary with the medical care she needs is not an option for us. “
Jane Doe, who refused to voluntarily hand over her daughter’s medical records, spoke to her DFPS chief the day after Abbott issued his order, the lawsuit said. It is unclear whether she disclosed any information about her transgender child, but she was released on administrative leave the same day.
“The issuance of Paxton’s opinion and Abbott’s letter, together with their implementation by the DFPS, terrorized Dow’s family and caused permanent and irreparable damage,” the lawsuit said.
Mary Doe has long been in the care of Dr. Megan Mooney, a licensed psychologist in Houston, who is also a plaintiff in the case, the document said.
Mooney diagnosed Mary with sexual dysphoria and referred the family to other medical professionals, who confirmed the diagnosis, according to the case.
Transgender advocacy groups protest governor’s order at Texas Capitol building Tuesday
A group of defenders were spotted protesting in support of transgender children
Sexual dysphoria is referred to in the Manual of Diagnosis and Statistics of Mental Disorders as someone’s “pronounced discrepancy between their experienced or expressed sex and that which was determined at birth.”
It can lead to “symptoms of depression and anxiety, substance use disorders, a negative feeling of well-being and low self-esteem and an increased risk of self-harm and suicide” and can be treated with psychiatric support, hormone therapy and surgery. from the individual case and the needs of the patient “, according to the National Center for Biotechnological Information.
Following Mary’s diagnosis, her doctors recommended that she receive medical treatment, which includes prescription drugs to delay puberty and hormone therapy, “to start puberty according to her female gender,” the trial said.
“Mary was worried that she would have to go through puberty, which would lead to permanent physical characteristics that did not correspond to her female gender. “Jane and John are watching the prospect of this puberty cause Mary serious suffering and exacerbate her dysphoria,” the trial said.
“The ability to be confirmed as what it is, including through the course of treatment prescribed by her doctors, has brought Mary considerable relief and allowed her to thrive,” it added.
Abbott issued the order in a letter Tuesday to the Texas Department of Family and Welfare Services
Abbott wrote in his letter that “it is now illegal to subject children in Texas to a wide variety of optional gender reassignment procedures, including relocation surgeries that can cause sterilization, mastectomy, removal of otherwise healthy body parts and application. of puberty – blocking drugs or supraphysiological doses of testosterone or estrogen. ‘
The order requires the DFPS to “conduct a swift and thorough investigation into all reported cases of these abuses.”
The letter notes that doctors, nurses and teachers are authorized reporters who must report alleged child abuse, not to mention that there are “criminal sanctions for not reporting such violence against children.”
It is unclear whether Abbott’s order will remain under judicial scrutiny, and some Texas prosecutors have already rejected the idea of prosecuting child abuse cases against parents, while government agencies have remained largely silent on how to interpret the new guidelines.
Legislation has been introduced in more than 20 states to ban gender-based procedures for teenagers, according to New York Times. However, no such bills have passed their respective legislative sessions, including one in Texas that seeks to redefine violence against children to include gender-sensitive treatment for transgender children.
Last summer, Abbott ordered the state protection agency to investigate whether such medical procedures would constitute violence against children.
Around the same time, the agency succumbed to pressure from one of Abbott’s main Republican opponents, Don Huffins, by removing a list of LGBTQ resources and a suicide prevention hotline from its website.
exas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is also a Republican, issued a statement last week declaring that some transition procedures are child abuse under existing Texas law
The move, first announced by Houston Chroniclecame when Huffines attacked the governor online for “promoting transgender sexual policies among young people in Texas.”
Adri Perez, a political strategist for the ACLU in Texas, accused the governor and the attorney general of issuing their statements about transgender children in order to yield to their party before the upcoming primary.
“No family should be afraid of being torn apart because they support their trance child,” Perez told the New York Times. “One week before the election, Governor Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a guerrilla political attack that is not rooted in the needs of families.”
Paul Castillo, a senior adviser at Lambda Legal, told the New York Times that the two Republicans “are joining a politically motivated disinformation campaign without regard to medical science and appear determined to criminalize parents who seek care and care.” provide for their children.
He added: “Gender-promoting care for the treatment of sexual dysphoria is medically necessary care, period.”
The case cites a number of advocacy groups for children who have spoken out against the governor’s order, including Prevent Child Abuse America, which said in a statement that “providing the necessary and adequate medical care to your child is not violence against children.”
“Therefore, PCA America opposes legislation and laws that would deny access to health care to any child, regardless of their gender identity. “Such laws threaten the safety and security of the most vulnerable citizens of our nation – children and young people,” the statement added.
The Biden administration has also reacted vehemently to the Texas order, calling a White House spokesman unnecessary and dangerous.
“Conservative officials in Texas and other states across the country must stop engaging in health care decisions that create unnecessary tension between pediatricians and their patients,” White House Chief of Staff Karin Jean-Pierre told Dallas Morning News.
“No parent should face the agony of a politician who hinders access to life-saving care for their child,” added Jean-Pierre.
Admiral Rachel L. Levine, a transgender woman who is Biden’s assistant secretary of health, also denied Abbott’s move.
“Leading pediatricians in our nation support evidence-based care for transgender young people who are gender-sensitive. The HHS supports transgender youth and their health care providers, “Levine told Morning News.
The movements of the officials were praised by other Texas groups. “Minors are forbidden to buy paint, cigarettes, alcohol or even get a tattoo. “We can’t allow minors or their parents to make life-changing decisions about mutilation procedures and irreversible hormonal treatments,” Jonathan Covey, Texas Values’ political director, told the New York Times last week.
And Abbott’s Republican allies in the Texas legislature praised his move. “This (Paxton) opinion means nothing if it is not necessary,” Republican Republican Representative Matt Schaefer told the head of state.
“The truth is, however, that we need a special session immediately to look into this, now that we have the support of the Attorney General’s office. We will not back down from this – this is a hill where we are ready to die, “he added.