Gov. Greg Abbott, left, and Attorney General Ken Paxton

The ACLU of Texas filed suit today (Tuesday, March 1) against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Jaime Masters and DFPS itself, and has asked the court to immediately block DFPS from investigating parents of trans youth who work with medical professionals to provide their trans children with gender-affirming health care.

The lawsuit claims “these recent directives were issued without proper authority, in violation of the Texas Administrative Procedures Act, the separation of powers requirements of the Texas Constitution, and the constitutional rights of transgender youth and their parents,” according to an ACLU press release.

The lawsuit was filed in the 353rd Judicial District Court in Travis County, Judge Madeleine Connor presiding. Read the original petition here.

ACLU says the lawsuit was filed on behalf of a DFPS employee, her husband and their transgender teenager who say a DFPS investigator has already been to their home. The family filed the suit anonymously.

The lawsuit comes after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week issued a non-binding opinion declaring that providing gender-affirming care for trans children is child abuse, and after Abbott, the following day, sent a letter to DFPS demanding that the agency investigate families and medical professionals who provide such care to a trans teen. The letter also demands that health care professionals, teachers and others who are required to report child abuse, as well as regular folks, report trans teens and their families to DFPS.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram published an analysis tearing apart Paxton’s opinion, pointing out that it inaccurately cites sources and makes false comparisons.

Licensed psychologist Dr. Megan Mooney is also a plaintiff. The ACLU says that Mooney, considered a mandatory reporter under Texas law, can’t comply with Abbott’s orders without harming her clients and violating her ethical obligations.

In an email statement about the lawsuit, the ACLU calls Paxton’s opinion and Abbott’s director to DFPS “devastating, dehumanizing and terrifying to the families being targeted.”

But, the email signed by Chase Strangio, ACLU’s deputy director for transgender justice in the LGBTQ & HIV Project, continues, “neither Gov. Abbott, AG Paxton nor the DFPS has the legal authority to investigate these families or to take kids away from loving and supporting homes.”

Adri Pérez, policy and advocacy strategist at the ACLU of Texas, said in the press release, “No family should have to fear being torn apart because they are supporting their trans child. A week before an election, Gov. Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a partisan political attack that isn’t rooted in the needs of families, the evidence from doctors and the expertise from child welfare professionals.

“Families with trans kids in Texas have been under attack for too long. Gender-affirming health care saved my life, and other trans Texans should be able to access medically necessary, lifesaving care,” Pérez said.

Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Paul Castillo added, “For Gov. Abbott and Attorney General Paxton, it seems the cruelty is the point. They are joining a politically motivated misinformation campaign with no consideration of medical science and seem determined to criminalize parents seeking to care and provide for their kids, and medical professionals abiding by accepted standards of care for transgender youth. Gender-affirming care for the treatment of gender dysphoria is medically necessary care, full stop. Criminalizing that care and threatening to tear children from their families is unconscionable and terrifying, and cannot stand.”

And Transgender Education Network of Texas Executive Director Emmett Schelling said, “Our youth, our communities, will not be used as political props. We will not allow for these continued efforts to restrict access to life-saving care and criminalize families based on patently false information. To Attorney General Paxton and Gov. Abbott, we will not continue to play a sadistic role in your political theater.”

— Tammye Nash