The ruling is a lifesaving win for transgender children and families who remain in Texas to celebrate during the Transgender Day Of Visibility. Conversely, it's a sad reminder of their life before being forced to flee for those who have sought refuge.
The Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, today upheld injunctions in two related cases against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and former Commissioner Jaime Masters, barring them from implementing the agency’s rule expanding the definition of child abuse to presumptively treat the provision of gender-affirming care as child abuse, the ACLU of Texas said in a press release Friday.
The legal battle began after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, ordered the state agency in February 2022 to launch investigations into parents who provide their children with the treatment, which has been deemed safe, effective and potentially lifesaving by many major medical groups but was banned in September by state law, CNN reports.
The governor’s order came shortly after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared gender-affirming surgical procedures in children and prescribing drugs affecting puberty should be considered child abuse. Abbott ordered the Department of Family and Protective Services commissioner “to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas.” Within two weeks of the directive, the state had opened at least nine investigations of families, according to the department.
The court of appeals upheld a trial court decision in the Friday order, ruling in favor of LGBTQ+ advocates and families in two related Texas lawsuits asking a state court to block the agency from investigating parents who provide their children with gender-affirming care.
