Texas officials are investigating the parents of several transgender children. In a letter to the state’s Department of Family and protective services commissioner, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office thinks that several ‘sex change’ procedures come under child abuse in Texas law.
The judge in Texas stays investigation on parents of transgender children
A Texas judge temporarily blocked the state from conducting child abuse investigations on parents of trans children. The move is following Governor Greg Abbott’s statement that gender affirmation and other such treatments for transgender children is a form of abuse. The LGBTQ community and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of a transgender girl for stopping this practice. “In recent days, elected leaders in Texas have launched a cynical and dangerous campaign targeting transgender children and their parents. These actions are terrifying many families in Texas and beyond. And they must stop,” tweeted President Biden, urging a stop to this.
Why did the Texas government start this investigation?
The news sparked on February 22, due to a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Jaime Masters by Governor Greg Abbott. He stated that Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office believes that “several so-called “sex change” procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law. Because the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for protecting children from abuse, I hereby direct your agency to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas”. The letter gives the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) the task of investigating such occurrences.
The letter also states that the Attorney General thinks that making children undergo elective gender transitioning is illegal. “Reassignment surgeries that can cause sterilization, mastectomies, removals of otherwise healthy body parts, and administration of puberty-blocking drugs or supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or estrogen,” stated the letter. Additionally, it states that Texas law requires “licensed professionals” in contact with children should report such types of ‘abuse’. The refusal for doing so can lead to criminal penalties. However, the letter excludes those who need to take medication due to genetic disorders or emergencies.
Why are they calling it a criminal offense?
Since the procedures involve a nonreversal possibility of sterilizing minors, Paxton believes that conducting such procedures can permanently deprive trans children. According to the constitution, everyone has the right to “procreate, or impair their ability to procreate, before those children have the legal capacity to consent to those procedures and treatments, constitutes child abuse”. The parents of a 16-year-old transgender girl were the first ones to undergo investigation.
“The novel trend of providing these elective sex changes to minors often has the effect of permanently sterilizing those minor children. While you refer to these procedures as “sex changes,” it is important to note that it remains medically impossible to truly change the sex of an individual because this is determined biologically at conception. No doctor can replace a fully functioning male sex organ with a fully functioning female sex organ (or vice versa). In reality, these “sex change” procedures seek to destroy a fully functioning sex organ to cosmetically create the illusion of a sex change,” stated Paxton.
