A transgender pride flag flies on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York on June 28, 2019.
Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images
Investigations of parents with transgender children for possible child abuse temporarily halted in Texas on Friday after a state court ruled that measure, ordered last month by Gov. Greg Abbott, had been improperly adopted and violated the state Constitution.
A judge in Austin, Texas, temporarily blocked that state’s plan to investigate as “child abuse” parents or doctors who allow trans minors to undergo gender transition medical treatments, such as hormone therapy.
Judge Amy Clark Meachum called the order issued in this regard by the governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, “unconstitutional”. that opened the door to criminal convictions for doctors and parents.
Meachum temporarily suspended the application of the measure, considering it likely that the parents of a 16-year-old trans teenager, who were among the first to be investigated under the order and who have sued the state, will end up prevailing in the trial on this case, scheduled for July.
Any state-initiated parental or medical investigation thus far must be stalled at least until the trial is concluded, according to Meacham’s ruling, which could still be appealed by state authorities.
In late February, the Texas governor ordered the state Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate “gender transition” processes in minors, including the administration of hormones.
Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) harshly criticized this Texas plan to “criminalize” gender transition in minors.
The state of New York requested this week that the Department of Justice examine the issue, and dozens of brands such as Google, Apple, Meta, Levi’s or Ikea launched this Friday an advertising campaign in Texas against the measure, under the slogan “discrimination is bad for business”.
In a written statement filed in the lawsuit, the mother of the trans teen who has sued Texas said that she was ‘terrified’ for her daughter’s well-being ever since she found out she was being investigated by the authorities.
The mother, who has remained anonymous, testified at the hearing dressed in a wig and glasses, and declared in her letter “betrayed” by her state and by the DFPS agency, in which she herself works, although she has been suspended. of his position, according to The New York Times.
Psychologist Megan Mooney, who treats trans minors and who joined the lawsuit against Texas upon learning that she was required to report alleged “child abuse” to her patients, said the governor’s order has generated “panic” among state doctors.
“It puts the medical professionals I work with in a horrible position,” Mooney said at Friday’s hearing.
The one in Texas is one of the many measures hostile to the LGBTI population that have recently been promoted in the United States, where 17 state laws of this type were signed in 2021, more than in the last three years combined, according to the Human Rights Campaign organization. .
This week, the Florida Senate approved a controversial bill that will ban teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms between kindergarten and third grade, a move dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.
It may interest you:
– Change of sex in minors unleashes controversy in Texas by qualifying them as cases of child abuse
– Judge blocks Texas from investigating parents of transgender teens
– Texas confirms nine investigations of transgender minors receiving medical care that is considered ‘child abuse’
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