On Feb. 22, Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a directive calling on licensed professionals or members of the public to report the parents of transgender minors for child abuse if it appears the children are recieving gender-affirming care.
It’s yet another grotesque display from lawmakers that’s part of the continued attack against trans people in the United States, with a narrative surrounding the community fueled by Christian right-wing media and other groups who conform to the ideology of gender essentialism.
Abbott, a Republican, sent this directive to the Department of Family and Protective Services in the state stating, “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.”
Abbott went on to reference “KP-0401,” an opinion by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Feb. 18, wherein any medical procedures involving children including “hysterectomies, castration, puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery” constitute child abuse.
This is another large step in the war against trans people in this country.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, 2021 was the worst year in recent history for LGBTQ+ state legislative attacks, breaking the 2015 record with 17 enacted laws.
Emmett Schelling, the executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, spoke in a March 11 press conference published by Equality Texas saying, “We’ve seen since 2015 how much more cruel and cynical our state leadership has become. What we are seeing here is a departure of any moral code from our state leadership. We know that they know that continuing this hate leads to trans youth taking their lives. Why wouldn’t we want to stop that? Why would state leaders continue to push this harmful narrative forward?”
Over 240 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been filed in 2022 with most targeting the trans community, according to a Jan. 2 NBC News article.
Many Americans like to think our country is progressive and was progressing prior to former president Donald Trump’s November 2016 election but this has always been a problem. To be trans is to be different. Breaking away from the idea of gender binary will never happen under the current form of government, which has a history of thriving under the oppression of marginalized groups.
Historically, the global expansion of the colonialist British Empire has always meant suppression of the LGBTQ+ community, leaving repercussions that follow us to this day. Of the 72 countries with anti-LGBTQ+ laws still in place, 38 of those were subject to British colonialism, according to a May 15, 2018 The Conversation article.
Allan and Molly Simons, who used pseudonyms for privacy concerns, are a couple who moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from Austin, Texas. They expressed their concerns for their trans child’s safety and for their friends back home.
“We felt pretty rough. We still have our parents there. My father and his mother and father still live in Texas,” Molly said. “We still have friends and we typically go to Texas, you know, before the pandemic, probably four to six times a year. At this point, we don't feel safe to travel there.”
Allan said he also sees this as a pushback to the disruption of “white male hegemony.”
“I think that more than this being a distraction, I think this is a part of their [Republican] governing and [their] political philosophy right now is to be cruel to people that they believe are their enemies,” he said.
The couple also finds the laws ironic.
“Texas has a long and really established history of, you know, claiming to love freedom. While at the same time, they had laws that . . . were just things that they considered immoral that they were outlawed,” Molly said.
Anne Lewis, Texas State Employees Union (TSEU) Executive Board member, also spoke saying “Governor Abbott’s letter violates the civil rights and privacy of children and families. It exposes Texas Department of Family and Protective Services workers to moral injury and professional censure by demanding that they go against their moral beliefs and the standards of their profession.”
The main point of contention for people who are so against gender-affirming care is how it would harm children but never speak on how it would be a positive for trans kids.
“I will say, there's not current data about what is right for children, because this isn't something that previously has been offered; it was almost unheard of, for you to be able to have a child that was declaring itself to be a different gender than what it was, you know, on their birth certificate,” Molly said. “And so yeah, we don't have perfect data on this, but we do have a lot of data about what happens when you try to force a child to be what they say they're not. And when we don't support that child, we got a lot of data on that.”
A study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that social transition isn’t harmful in trans youth but leads to positive mental health outcomes. The adverse mental health effects stem from harassment, discrimination, and unaccpeting social environments.
According to a March 31 AP news article, caseworkers were directed to treat cases involving trans kids differently. They were instructed to use their personal devices only, to not give out case numbers or names, with said cases being referred to as “special assignments.”
For Greg Abbott, this is wholly unsurprising. Republican lawmakers including Abbott know exactly what they’re doing: Their entire grift is to find a scapegoat within marginalized communities to blame for societal problems as a distraction.
They’re protecting a system that is built on the oppression of marginalized groups including the LGBTQ+ community and even with these rights progressing will do whatever it takes to stop that from happening.
There is hope, however, in the fact that there is support for the trans community and legislative attacks will not go through without a fight.
On March 2, the Travis County District Court in Texas granted a temporary restraining order to block the DFPS from investigating parents named in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Lambda Legal.
On March 11, investigations for “possible child abuse” by the DFPS were blocked by an injuction issued by Judge Amy Clark Meachum, according to a March 11 New York Times article.
Meachum said in her ruling that “the governor’s actions and those of the agency, violate separation of powers by impermissibly encroaching into the legislative domain.” She said there was a “substantial likelihood” that plaintiffs would prevail after a trial on the merits because the governor’s order was “unconstitutional.”
This may be an embarrassment for Abbott, but this is not new.
Transphobic legislation is a part of a system that seeks to harm trans people and it must be stopped at the root. Trans people are human beings who deserve to be included and have access to the same rights and care as their cis counterparts.
The society we live in is not a humane one, and my hope for this world is to see the grab for power and capital be completely dismantled and rebuilt for a humane world where it is not dependent on the subjugation of others.
