Texas Judge Issues Injunction against Investigations of Parents of Transgender Children
A Texas judge on Friday blocked the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services from conducting investigations of parents of transgender children for potential child abuse.
District judge Amy Clark Meachum wrote in her ruling that a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal against the DFPS holds a “substantial likelihood” of success.
The groups filed the lawsuit after Texas governor Greg Abbott in February ordered the DFPS to conduct investigations of parents of transgender children. Abbott announced the order following a legal opinion by state attorney general Ken Paxton declaring the use of sex-change procedures and the prescription of puberty blockers to children as “child abuse.”
“Texas law imposes reporting requirements upon all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, and provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse,” Abbott wrote in a letter to DFPS.
However, Abbott’s order and the DFPS investigations “violate separation of powers by impermissibly encroaching into the legislative domain,” Meachum said on Friday, according to the New York Times.
Meachum’s injunction blocks all such investigations until the conclusion of a trial in the suit, which was scheduled for July.
In their lawsuit, the ACLU and Lamda Legal accused Abbott and the DFPS of violating the rights of transgender children.
“Their actions caused terror and anxiety among transgender youth and their families across the Lone Star State and singled out transgender youth and their families for discrimination and harassment,” the lawsuit states.
A state employee identified as Jane Doe, who is the mother of a 16-year-old transgender girl, testified in court on Friday after the DFPS opened an investigation against her. Doe said in an earlier court filing that she feels “betrayed by my state and the agency for whom I work.”
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