A district judge granted a temporary restraining order against Texas' directive on investigating parents of trans minors who had undergone gender affirming surgery.
A temporary restraining order has been issued by a district court judge in Travis County, Texas, in a case against the Department of Family and Protective Services of the state. The temporary restraining order will ban the agency from carrying out a directive ordered by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on February 22 that would allow the agency to investigate parents of transgender minors who had undergone gender affirming surgeries or procedures that are considered child abuse by the state.
According to Newsmax, the justification for Gov. Aboott's directive comes from a February 18 opinion issued by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who declared that transgender surgeries have a high risk of causing infertility in the future, which is tantamount to "child abuse."
On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed a petition in response to the court's temporary restraining order into transgender surgeries among children. The petition was also supported by two multinational law firms on behalf of the family of a DFPS employee who is a parent of a transgender minor who claimed an investigator had already contacted her. The groups' petition requests for a temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, permanent injunction, or declaratory relief.
The ACLU together with the other petitioners argued that Gov. Abbott and DFPS commissioner Jamie Masters attempted to "legislate" through a "press release" after the Texas legislature "failed to pass legislation criminalizing well-established and medically necessary treatment for adolescents with gender dysphoria."
On Wednesday, the 201st Civil District Court's Judge Amy Clark Meachum granted the temporary restraining order that ultimately blocks Texas from carrying out the Republican governor's directive at least until the broader lawsuit comes to pass.
Yahoo! News reported that a week after Gov. Abbott ordered the DFPS to "conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances" of gender reassignment surgery on minors that he described as "abusive," parents of three minors filed a lawsuit against DFPS' commissioner, accusing them of "[trampling] on the Constitutional rights of transgender children, their parents and professionals who provide vital care to transgender children."
The lawsuit accuses the DFPS of "[creating] a new definition of 'child abuse' that singles out a subset of loving parents for scrutiny, investigation and potential family separation." Meanwhile, the Biden administration condemned the Texas governor's move to investigate transgender surgeries among children.
According to Fox 2 Now, President Joe Biden described the directive as "a cynical and dangerous campaign" by Gov. Abbott to "score political points." He called it one of many "anti-transgender attacks" across the country and urged authorities to stop.
The HHS meanwhile said it is working to ensure that child welfare systems know that they must use their resources to support LGBT youth and provide them with gender-affirming care. HHS said it shall also remind health care providers that they are not required to provide patient information related to this kind of care.
