Dallas Judge Removes TX AG Ken Paxton from Case Involving Trans Youth Healthcare

Ken Paxton

DALLAS, June 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A judge in Dallas County today removed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from a lawsuit involving Dallas' Children's Medical Center and physicians there providing gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

Judge Melissa Bellan in Dallas County Court at Law No. 2 ruled that Mr. Paxton and his office do not have the authority to act in the case and that no state law was implicated.

"The attorney general has no business being in this case and tried to push his way into it to satisfy a political interest, not a legal one," says Charla Aldous, who along with law partner Brent Walker and attorney Stephen Malouf represent the plaintiff, Dr. Ximena Lopez.

Attorney General Paxton intervened in the case claiming gender-affirming care constitutes child abuse. During a two-hour hearing in front of Judge Bellan, attorneys for the AG questioned whether Dr. Lopez was following the proper standard of care, but the court rejected those arguments.

"The attorney general intervened in this lawsuit with no purpose but intimidation only," Mr. Walker told the court.

Dr. Lopez filed suit in April against Children's Medical Center in Dallas in order to continue providing gender-affirming care – including hormone treatments and puberty blockers – for transgender youth after such care was suspended last fall. She and others believe that action happened after the attorney general and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pressured Children's and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to stop providing such treatment at the GENECIS clinic.

During the hearing in front of Judge Bellan, Mr. Malouf pointed out that use of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria is on an approved list of treatments written by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.

Through the lawsuit, and a temporary injunction that is now in place, Dr. Lopez and other physicians at Children's are once again allowed to provide gender-affirming care.

Denton Texas Passes a Trans Inclusive Non-Discrimination Ordinance

Paxton enjoyed breaking bread with the Briggle family in 2016. The Briggle family hoped that in spending time with them he would come to appreciate true Texas family values.

The hometown of a transgender family that is being attacked by the state just passed a trans-inclusive LGBTQI Non-Discrimination Ordinance. 

On Tuesday the Denton City Council voted 5-2 to pass the NDO which prohibits discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations based on a person's race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Denton now joins with Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, and San Antonio in protecting all LGBTQI citizens. The state has tried in the past laws to invalidate local Ordinances but it remains to be seen if the Republican dominated legislature will be successful.

Violations of the NDO can be prosecuted as a Class C misdemeanor, which carries a maximum $500 fine per violation.

The city council approved the measure in a 5-to-2 vote, with Mayor Gerard Hudspeth and councilmember Jesse Davis being the only dissenting votes. KERA reports that Hudspeth is facing Denton Mayor Pro Tem Paul Meltzer in the May election for mayor,  Meltzer who currently holds Council seat 6 voted to pass the NDO, and is highly favored by all Denton progressives.

It PASSES!

It's now prohibited in denton, TX to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

This took YEARS. It shouldn't have been this hard. But it got done. Huge props to the queer folx who got this over the finish line.

This is the Texas that I know and love. So proud. pic.twitter.com/b8zrDeoGaz

— Amber Briggle (she/her) (@mrsbriggle) March 23, 2022

"It took YEARS to get this done, but it couldn't have come at a better time", wrote Amber Briggle, whose son Max is transgender. 

Previously, Gov. Gregg Abbott had illegally directed the Texas Child Protective Services to investigate parents of transgender children with the endgame of charging them with Child Abuse. Ambers's family was one of nine families CPS visited before a judge ruled against the visits temporarily stopping Abbott.

The following rulings which were challenged by Attorney General Ken Paxton affirmed that state persecution of trans families due to a child being transgender is unconstitutional.

Ken Paxton has asked the state Supreme Court to intervene to allow child abuse investigations into parents of transgender children. His request comes just days after a Texas appeals court reinstated a temporary injunction blocking the state's child welfare agency from investigating parents solely because they provide gender-affirming care to their children.

"Denton, Texas FINALLY passed a comprehensive LGBTQ non-discrimination ordinance last night." Amber Briggle wrote in a Facebook post. "Literally every person who spoke last night was in favor of the new law, because despite what the rest of the country thinks about Texas, there truly are big-hearted, kind people down here who love their neighbors. Even their queer ones."

"I've advocated for this publicly for years and for a long time, it seemed like this day would never come -- but thanks to the outstanding work of Pridenton and OUTreach Denton, the motion passed 5-2 and we can really say that "y'all means all" in Denton. They SHOWED UP and organized and rallied and spoke out, and they should be very very proud of themselves. (I know I am.)"

"Two thumbs down to Councilmember Davis who proposed an amendment (that failed) because he had "valid, non-bigoted reasons" to keep trans people (including my son, whom he knows personally) out of the bathroom. But HUGE LOVE to everyone who showed the hell up for LGBTQ folx last night because we needed that win, now more than ever," wrote Briggle.