Lawsuit Targeting Texas’ Anti-Trans Health Investigations Filed

NPR: The ACLU Sues To Block Texas From Investigating Parents Of Trans Youth
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal have filed a lawsuit seeking to block a statewide directive that transgender rights advocates describe as an attempt to persecute trans children and their families. The suit, filed on Tuesday, is aimed at stopping the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from enacting Gov. Greg Abbott's orders to investigate parents and doctors who provide trans children with gender-affirming care. Abbott has also suggested parents should be prosecuted. His order follows Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's nonbinding opinion last month saying that providing access to sex reassignment surgery, puberty blockers, testosterone and estrogen treatments all constituted child abuse. (Romo, 3/1)

Houston Chronicle: Family Of Trans Texas Teen Sues Abbott, DFPS As State Begins Identifying Gender-Affirming Care As Child Abuse
Three civil rights groups are swinging back at Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest offensive against transgender children with a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Republican incumbent accusing him of inflicting “terror and anxiety” among vulnerable children through discrimination and harassment. The suit follows Abbott’s edict, the week before a contentious primary election, stating that parents who allow their teenagers to seek gender-affirming care should be investigated as child abusers. The Travis County civil rights case was brought on behalf of a state employee who was put on leave from her job and had investigators show up at her home because she and her husband are supporting their 16-year-old daughter’s care for gender dysphoria. The suit targets the governor as well as the mother’s employer, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, seeking to halt the agency from treating parents as abusive if they support gender-affirming medical care for their teens. (Banks, 3/1)

The New York Times: Texas Investigates Parents Over Care For Transgender Youth, Suit Says 
Texas officials have begun investigating parents of transgender adolescents for possible child abuse, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, after Gov. Greg Abbott directed them last week to handle certain medical treatments as possible crimes. The investigations by the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services, which have not been previously reported, were started in response to an order from Mr. Abbott to the agency, the lawsuit says. (Goodman and Morris, 3/1)

In related news from Texas —

Fox News: Paxton Claps Back After Biden Condemns 'State Laws Targeting Transgender Americans'
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton responded after President Biden called on Congress to sign the Equality Act and condemned Republican state laws that he characterized as attacks on transgender Americans and their families in the State of the Union address Tuesday. "For our LGBTQ+ Americans, let’s finally get the bipartisan Equality Act to my desk," Biden began. "The onslaught of state laws targeting transgender Americans and their families is simply wrong. As I said last year, especially to our younger transgender Americans, I will always have your back as your president, so you can be yourself and reach your God-given potential." (O'Neil, 3/1)

In other news on transgender health care —

KCUR: Transgender Kids Testify Against Missouri Bill Banning Them From Sports: ‘They’re Playing For Fun’
The Missouri Senate Education Committee heard testimony on Tuesday on a bill that would bar transgender women from participating in sports teams that match their gender identity. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mike Moon, a Republican from Ash Grove, is called the “Save Women’s Sports Act.” It would prohibit students who were assigned male at birth from participating in middle school, high school and post-secondary teams for women or girls. Avery Jackson, a 14-year-old from Kansas City, told the committee that transgender kids like her should be able to play sports without the issue becoming politicized. (Fortino, 3/1)

Indianapolis Star: Politics: Senate Passes Ban On Transgender Girls Playing Girls Sports
The Indiana General Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill largely along party lines 32-18 that would ban transgender girls from playing girls school sports. House Bill 1041 now heads to Gov. Eric Holcomb to consider. Holcomb hasn't explicitly said if he'll sign the bill but did signal support for the measure when asked about it during a press availability last week."I agree adamantly that boys should be playing boys sports and girls should be playing girls sports," he said. (Herron, 3/1)

Salt Lake Tribune: A Utah Family Says They Are Leaving The State Because Of Lawmakers' Anti-Transgender Bills
Every day last spring, her young transgender son came home from elementary school crying. Emily reported the bullying, she said, but felt “nothing was happening.” And looking ahead, she worried about the ways her elected officials have worked “against the trans community,” she said, “versus having bills for the trans community.” The Wasatch Front mother decided she needed to find a more supportive place to raise her son. They’ve left the state — but they haven’t gone alone. In an extraordinary move of support, seven households of her family have relocated from Utah to the Pacific Northwest or plan to in coming months. (Jacobs, 3/1)