Texas Ordered to Stop Investigating Parents of Trans Youth — For Now

Governor Greg Abbott previously ordered investigations into healthcare for trans youth as “child abuse.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks during a press conference where he signed Senate Bills 2 and 3 at the Capitol on June...
Montinique Monroe / Getty Images

 

Update 3/11/22: On Friday, a Texas judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the state's Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) from investigating parents of trans children for “child abuse.” The injunction came on the heels of a February 22 directive by Governor Greg Abbott, which ordered the department to investigate families of trans youth for providing gender-affirming healthcare. In her order, Travis County District Judge Amy Clark Meachum found that Abbott's directive is likely unconstitutional, and set a trial date for July 11 for a final decision surrounding the injunction.

Judge Meachum had previously issued a restraining order last week blocking a DFPS investigation into two parents, named as Jane and John Doe, who provided gender-related healthcare to their 16-year-old child.


Original 3/1/22: Two of the nation’s top civil rights organizations are suing to block Texas governor Greg Abbott’s recent directive to prosecute parents of trans children as child abusers.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, and the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Lambda Legal filed a 68-page lawsuit, Doe v. Abbott, on Monday, on behalf of the anonymous parents (Jane and John Doe) of an unnamed 16-year-old trans girl, Mary Doe. Dr. Megan Mooney, a clinical psychologist, is also named as a plaintiff.

In addition to Gov. Abbott, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is also listed as a defendant. DFPS allegedly placed Jane Doe on leave “mere hours” after Abbott issued his letter instructing the agency to investigate the families of transgender children.

The plaintiffs allege that Abbott’s and DFPS’ statements classifying trans healthcare as child abuse are invalid on procedural grounds and that the both the governor and the agency have exceeded their authority, violating parental rights, depriving them of due process, and denying trans youth their right to equal protection under the law.

“Gender-affirming care for the treatment of gender dysphoria is medically necessary care, full stop,” Lambda Legal senior counsel Castillo said in a statement. “Criminalizing that care and threatening to tear children from their families is unconscionable and terrifying, and cannot stand.”

The lawsuit offers a firsthand glimpse at the “terror and anxiety” caused by Abbot’s letter in the days since it was issued.

The shock announcement that they could face investigation “wreaked havoc on the Doe family,” the suit says, making them “terrified for Mary’s health and well-being, and for their family.” 

On February 23, the day that Abbott’s letter was issued, Jane says she asked her supervisor for clarification on how the letter would affect her employment status given the fact that she has a trans daughter, which led to her being placed on leave.

The family says they were investigated two days later, with a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigator interviewing the parents and Mary separately. The investigator also allegedly requested copies of Mary’s medical records, which her parents refused, at which point they say the investigator disclosed that the sole charge against the Does was that their daughter may have received medically necessary gender-affirming healthcare.

The lawsuit further states that Mary has been “traumatized by the prospect that she could be separated from her parents and could lose access to the medical treatment that has enabled her to thrive.”

“The stress has taken a noticeable toll on her, and her parents have observed how their daughter who is typically joyful and happy, is now moodier, stressed, and overwhelmed,” the complaint reads, going on to detail the pain caused to her parents. “Jane has been unable to sleep, worrying about what they can do and how they can keep their family intact and their daughter safe and healthy.”

Dr. Mooney, the only plaintiff who does not belong to the Doe family, joined the suit because she says she has been placed in an “untenable situation” as a specialist who works with LGBTQ+ youth. As a mandated reporter, Mooney risks facing civil and criminal penalties and the loss of her license if she fails to report instances of child abuse. But because of the new directives in Texas, she’d be forced to report her clients, which she says would violate “her professional standards of ethics and inflict serious harm and trauma on her clients.” 

It’s worth noting that this doesn’t just refer to Mooney’s personal code of ethics; as the complaint points out, every major medical organization in the United States recognizes the necessity of gender-affirming medical care for trans youth.

Image may contain: Tarmac, Asphalt, Road, Human, Person, Architecture, Dome, Building, Intersection, Tent, and Freeway
“We can launch politically motivated attacks, or we can lift up and protect communities.”

Accordingly, the plaintiffs are requesting a temporary injunction and, eventually, a permanent injunction that would prevent DFPS from investigating parents of trans children. The plaintiffs are also requesting that the court declares that Abbott’s letter and DFPS’ actions are invalid on procedural grounds, and ultimately that they are unconstitutional.

But while Texas’ actions are unprecedented in their extremity, legislative attacks on trans youth extend far beyond the Lone Star State. This year alone, at least 16 states have introduced legislation that would criminalize gender affirming healthcare for trans youth, and at least 27 states have introduced bills that would ban trans youth from participating on gendered sports teams. In fact, the same day that this lawsuit was filed, Indiana’s state senate advanced its own anti-trans sports bill to the governor’s desk, where it will likely become the second anti-trans law enacted in 2022.

“They may be escalating, but these attacks are not new,” said Chase Strangio, deputy director for trans justice with the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project, in a press release. “Trans youth need you to take the fury you have over what’s happening in Texas and share it with lawmakers in every state that is trying to make it harder for trans youth to survive.”

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that a federal judge had blocked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's order to investigate trans youth healthcare as child abuse. It was a state judge who issued the order.

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for them.'s weekly newsletter here.