Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

Anti-trans animus will translate into a number on anti-trans bills in the upcoming Legislature

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com

Attorney General Ken Paxton has been targeting the trans community since before Ted Cruz made that community the center of his one-issue re-election campaign.

Over the summer, chief of the Drivers License Division of the Texas Department of Safety issued an order to employees to ignore gender correction orders from judges and stop updating gender markers on state-issued IDs, including drivers licenses. That directive came after Paxton had requested a list of names of everyone who had their identification updated to reflect their gender and was told such list did not exist.

The head of the Department of Health and Human Services issued a similar directive shortly after, and the head of the DPS has since asked Paxton’s office for a “legal opinion” allowing DPS to go back and undo gender marker and name changes made earlier.

In October, Paxton sued the doctor who runs the gender clinic at Children Health in Dallas “for illegally providing harmful ‘gender transition’ treatments to nearly two dozen Texas children.” Paxton accuses her of violating Senate Bill 14, which prohibits “gender transition medical interventions such as surgeries, puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors.”

Brian Klosterboer

And earlier this week, Paxton filed a similar lawsuit against an El Paso doctor who “violated the law by knowingly providing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children for the purpose of ‘transitioning’ their biological sex.”

Paxton also accuses that doctor of having “engaged in false, misleading and deceptive acts to intentionally conceal the unlawful conduct by falsifying medical records, prescriptions, and billing records.”

Despite political commercials running throughout this campaign season suggesting children go to school “and then come home with operations,” surgeries are not performed on minors. And ignoring every medical study and recommendation by every mainstream medical organization, Paxton claims, “the prohibited treatments are experimental, and no scientific evidence supports their supposed benefits.”

“Doctors who continue to provide these harmful ‘gender transition’ drugs and treatments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Paxton has warned in press releases.

So far, no doctor has been arrested or charged with criminal activity, but Paxton’s lawsuits could result in doctors losing their medical licenses

Interestingly enough, in the case of the Dallas doctor the lawsuit was filed in more conservative Collin County.

The two doctors are accused of falsifying medical records, prescriptions and billing records, but it’s still unclear exactly what Paxton accuses them of doing: Writing a prescription for puberty blockers for the parent who then gave the medication to the child? Claiming the child was 18 years old? And how did the attorney general get his hands on medical records that under federal law should remain private?

Will the barrage of lawsuits by the attorney general stop once the election is over? Or is this just preparation for the upcoming legislative session, which is expected to be even nastier than the last session in terms of attacks on the LGBTQ community.

One thing recent polling shows is that these attacks on the trans community are not effective.

A new poll from Data for Progress, a progressive think tank and polling organization, suggests attacks on the trans community are ineffective and unpopular. A majority of voters including Republicans said ads attacking trans folks are “mean-spirited” and “out of hand.”

By more than 20 points, voters overall said they would back a candidate who supports transgender rights, and 85 percent of Republicans said candidates should back away from transgender messaging, according to Data for Progress.

A study from Ground Media, which describes itself as a “strategic storytelling studio,” found that after running an anti-transgender ad, Trump yielded “no statistically significant shift” in voter preference.

In addition, 74 percent of those surveyed believe transgender people should be treated with dignity and respect, and 58 percent believe the government should be less involved in regulating what trans people do, including the healthcare they receive.

Brian Klosterboer is an attorney with the ACLU of Texas. He noted the lawsuits against the two Texas physicians come just weeks before the election, even though the legislation went into effect in September 2023.

“As feared, the law has caused immense harm,” Klosterboer said. “Doctors are complying with the law that has blocked medical care for transgender kids.”

He said the lawsuits stoke fear across the state. Similarly, for doctors who provide prenatal care, there are criminal penalties that extend to performing medical procedures associated with miscarriages under the restrictive abortion ban.

“SB 14 doesn’t have a criminal aspect,” Klosterboer said, but doctors could lose their license. That possibility is driving some medical providers to leave the state because they can’t practice here.

As for doctors “falsifying medical records, prescriptions and billing records,” Klosterboer said families are worried how Paxton is getting his hands on those records.

“He’s invading people’s privacy,” Klosterboer said. “It’s not clear what the allegations are based on.”

What the ACLU attorney is sure of is that defending against these allegations is going to be very time-consuming and very costly. And Paxton sharing the information in the form of a press release was meant to instill fear across the state.

Looking ahead to the upcoming legislative session, Klosterboer said it depends on who gets elected as to how bad the session will get. But he said he definitely expects some form of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law to pop up.

The city of Odessa just adopted a bathroom ban ordinance. He said the ACLU is looking into exactly what the new city ordinance does and how it will be enforced, and whether it can be stopped before legislators pass a new statewide ban.
Klosterboer said these lawsuits and piece of legislation have a devastating effect on people.

“Young people feel abandoned or attacked,” he said. And that’s more than just trans youth. “Migrants, people seeking abortions. They’re also targeting allies.”

And targeting voter organizations.

In a press release issued last week, Paxton announced he was making a criminal referral to the Department of Justice over “suspect political donations” made through ActBlue’s online fundraising website. ActBlue raises money for Democratic candidates and progressive organizations.

Again, Paxton offered no information on what he was claiming was illegal, but the possibility of criminal charges is clearly intended to put a damper on donations to Democratic candidates.