Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, indicted nearly seven years on three felony charges on securities fraud violations and now under investigation by the FBI for abuse of power, released a formal attorney general opinion today (Monday, Feb. 21) declaring that “performing certain ‘sex-change’ procedures on children, and prescribing puberty-blockers to them, is ‘child abuse’ under Texas law,” according to a press release from Paxton’s office.

It is important to note that Paxton’s opinion does not have weight of law but is simply Paxton’s opinion of what Texas law says.

Paxton issued the opinion after Paxton “opined in an October 2019 letter to DFPS, stating that the ‘transition’ of James Younger — the biological male son of Jeff Younger—to a ‘female’ through puberty-blocking drugs, among other things, was ‘abuse’ under at least three definitions set out in the Family Code, and that DFPS, therefore, had an independent duty to investigate.”

It also comes in the wake of Gov. Greg Abbott’s letter last August to the Texas Department of Family Services “requesting a determination of ‘whether genital mutilation of a child for purposes of gender transitioning through reassignment surgery constitutes child abuse.’ The Commissioner of DFPS replied that ‘genital mutilation of a child through reassignment surgery is child abuse.’”

The press release continued, “The holding comes at a critical time when more and more Texans are seeing the horrors that flow from the merging of medicine and misguided ideology. Specifically, the opinion concludes that certain procedures done on minors such as castration, fabrication of a ‘penis’ using tissue from other body parts, fabrication of a ‘vagina’ involving the removal of male sex organs, prescription of puberty-suppressors and infertility-inducers, and the like are all ‘abuse’ under section 261.001 of the Texas Family Code.”

Paxton’s press release gave no examples of what “horrors” he was talking about, although he most likely was not talking about the horrors that flow from the merging of women’s reproductive medical care and misguided right-wing ideology. He also offered no instances of a child in Texas undergoing what he calls surgical “sex-change procedures.”

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s standard of care prohibits surgical intervention in anyone under the age of 18, and reputable health care providers follow those standards.

Paxton’s press release also failed to note that both he and Abbott are in hotly-contested re-election campaigns and that attacking trans youth has been a hallmark of their efforts to energize their extreme right-wing base. Both face viable contenders in the GOP Primary.

“There is no doubt that these procedures are ‘abuse’ under Texas law, and thus must be halted,” said Paxton. “The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has a responsibility to act accordingly. I’ll do everything I can to protect against those who take advantage of and harm young Texans.”

Paxton issued his anti-trans opinion the same day that the Texas Tribune published a report on a statement from four former top aides in Paxton’s office who have filed a civil “whistleblower” lawsuit against the attorney general, claiming that Paxton illegally fired them in retaliation for reports they made to the FBI regarding allegations of Paxton’s abuse of office.

Former deputy attorneys general James Blake Brickman, Mark Penley and Ryan Vassar along with the OAG’s former director of law enforcement David Maxwell, said they had intended to stay silent as their lawsuit worked its way through the courts, but that they are speaking out now in response to the “numerous false and misleading public statements” they say Paxton has made during the recent weeks of his re-election campaign and which they “feel obligated to correct.”

The four said in their statement, “The most basic qualifications of an attorney general are respect for truth and respect for the law. Ken Paxton has neither. The day will come when Ken Paxton must testify under oath about his and his agency’s actions. Until then, we call on Ken Paxton to start telling the truth to the people of Texas.”

These four former OAG officials along with four top deputies went to the FBI in September 2020 accusing Paxton of abuse of office, accepting bribes and tampering with government documents in his efforts to benefit one of his political donors, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul. The whistleblowers told the FBI that Paxton had tried to intervene in legal matters related to the developer, who had donated to Paxton’s political campaigns, helped Paxton remodel his home and hired a woman with whom Paxton has allegedly admitted having an affair with.

All eight were then either fired or resigned from the OAG under pressure.

In their lawsuit, the four accuse Paxton of bribery, tampering with government records, obstruction of justice, harassment and abuse of office.

In a Jan. 31 radio interview with right-wing host Mark Davis, Paxton claimed that the whistleblowers had never come to him with their concerns and had never “explained” their concerns with his actions. And Paxton told Texas Scorecard earlier this month that the FBI had “infiltrated” his office before the eight lodged their complaints.

The whistleblowers however said in their statement that they had tried to talk to Paxton numerous, and specific dates are listed in their lawsuit. They say they told him over and over again that his actions were illegal, but they could not convince him to follow the law. They also said they had “no previous contact with the FBI” before reporting their concerns to the federal agency.

In their statement today, the whistleblowers also denied Paxton’s claim on Davis’ radio show that “no one has ever disputed” the unsigned 374-page report that Paxton’s own office issued last August claiming to exonerate him of the allegations against him.

“Paxton’s self-exonerating report is directly disputed by the detailed allegations in the whistleblower lawsuit,” the four men said in their statement. “Unsurprisingly, Paxton’s report selectively ignored some of the most troubling allegations we reported to the FBI, like Paxton providing blatant political favors to a campaign donor — the same campaign donor who has admitted in sworn testimony to hiring a woman at Paxton’s behest, a woman with whom media reports reveal Paxton had an extramarital affair.”

The four said that Paxton’s claims that they had committed crimes are “ridiculous.”

— Tammye Nash