A judge in Texas has temporarily blocked the state from investigating parents who obtain gender-affirming medical care for their transgender children. Last month, Governor Greg Abbott signed an order directing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and other state agencies to open the investigations, calling such treatments “child abuse.”
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction on Abbott’s order after a family with a transgender teen sued the governor, saying the order violated the constitutional rights of transgender children and their families. The judge scheduled a trial over Abbott’s order to begin on July 11, according to The Associated Press.
Since Abbott’s order went into effect, families of transgender kids in Texas have been living in fear. Nine families are already under investigation by Child Protective Services.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion last month — just before Abbott announced his order — that said gender affirming “procedures and treatments, when performed on children, can legally constitute child abuse.”
“The stakes have never been this high or real for us,” Adam Briggle, the father of a transgender teen, told CBS News.
Adam Briggle and his wife, Amber Briggle, said that CPS showed up at their house to find out if they were providing care related to their 14-year-old son’s transition.
“I was in the fetal position on the floor, gripping the floor, cause the room wouldn’t stop spinning,” Amber Briggle said.
In 2016, the Briggles invited Paxton and his wife to their house for dinner to discuss transgender issues. Paxton even took a picture with their son.
“They know we’re not child abusers,” Amber Briggle said. “He sat at my table and broke bread with my family, and then says that families like mine should not exist. He’s doing — it’s a political stunt.”
Texas Children’s Hospital, the country’s largest pediatric facility, has paused all gender-affirming therapy for children.
Republican state Senator Charles Perry agrees with the directive’s intent.
“I think the data supports that is not mature enough to have these decisions being made for them to understand,” he said.
Despite the judge’s Friday ruling, the future for the Briggles, and the families of the nearly 14,000 transgender teenagers in Texas, is up in the air.
