HE IS A LON CHANEY BULLY
Elvia Díaz, Arizona Republic
Wed, February 23, 2022
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a directive penalizing parents who get care for their transgender minor children.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered practically everyone in the Lone Star State to become viligantes against transgender kids – or else.
Under his new directive, parents who agree to gender-affirming medical care for minors will be investigated and prosecuted as child abusers.
Plus, doctors, nurses, teachers and anyone who comes into contact with a child is required to report parents or face criminal penalties.
Talk about turning the state into total vigilantism. That should be enough for everyone, especially freedom fighters and parental rights advocates, to rebuke Abbott’s government overreach.
It's no coincidence that Abbott is acting now
But don’t expect any of that from right-wingers hell-bent on prosecuting parents who dare decide what’s best for their child.
Anyone else on the fence about providing gender-affirming surgeries or other medical care, such as puberty blockers, to trans youths should consider Abbott’s political motives and the greater ramifications of government’s infringement on parental rights.
Abbott isn’t trying to protect vulnerable trans kids from their evil parents or the greedy doctors and nurses, as he claims. If he was, he would have done it already, since there are about 14,000 trans youngsters in Texas who could potentially seek such treatments.
He’s doing it now to help the Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s facing a tough primary on Tuesday.
It’s no coincidence that Paxton just came out with his opinion that providing gender-affirming medical care is child abuse.
Don't use kids, attack parent rights to win votes
Abbott, who’s setting the stage to face Democrat Beto O’Rourke in November’s general election, immediately followed Paxton’s opinion by ordering the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to act against the parents.
Without directly addressing the trans kids, O’Rourke on Wednesday went after Abbott, saying he’s “cruelly and obsessively bullying children.”
“Foster kids have been forced to sleep on the floor in Abbott’s CPS system where harm to children is ‘overlooked, ignored or forgotten.’ Texas leads the nation in uninsured kids. Now @GregAbbott_TX is cruelly and obsessively bullying children,” O’Rourke said on Twitter.
Other critics called Abbott’s order “trans genocide,” a legal maneuver to “separate kids from their parents” and “unconscionable” political move.
It’s that.
And a blatant attack on parents’ rights and medical freedom just to win votes.
Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why is Gov. Greg Abbott attacking transgender kids, parental rights?
Related: Trans Kids, Supporters Say New Texas Law Will Keep Them Out of School Sports
Abbott orders state agencies to investigate gender-affirming care for trans kids as child abuse
Erin Doherty
Wed, February 23, 2022
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday ordered state agencies to investigate gender-affirming care for transgender kids as child abuse.
Driving the news: "The Office of the Attorney General has now confirmed in the enclosed opinion that a number of so-called 'sex change' procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law," Abbott wrote in a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
The letter said doctors, nurses, teachers and anyone who comes into contact with a child has a requirement to report parents or face "criminal penalties."
Abbott's letter was CC'd to several agencies, including the Health and Human Services Commission, Texas Medical Board and Texas Education Agency, according to The Dallas Morning News.
State of play: The order's immediate impacts on transgender children's access to treatments remain unclear, Kate Murphy, senior policy associate for child protection at Texans Care for Children, told The Dallas Morning News.
"Since this is a nonbinding opinion by the attorney general right now, it’s unclear what will happen next," Murphy said, adding, "right now, we have more questions than answers."
The order comes one day after Attorney General Ken Paxton said that gender-affirming health care for transgender kids is child abuse, per the Morning News.
Zoom out: 2021 saw a record number of anti-trans bills introduced in state legislatures. Medical experts and doctors fear an increase in mental health crises among transgender kids due to the dozens of bills introduced to criminalize gender-affirming health care.
"I see multiple patients daily that are suffering with depression and suicide ideation and suicide attempt and anxiety, and my fear is that if we deny them this evidence-based treatment, we’re only going to see massive more patients come to the emergency room," Jesse Martinez Jr., a doctor of psychiatry at Children’s of Alabama, told Axios last year.
Studies have shown that doctors who give children the ability to socially transition, access puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones encounter lower rates of suicide and mental illness.
Data: UCLA/Williams Institute; Chart: Sara Wise/Axios
Between the lines, via Axios Austin's Asher Price: Some district attorneys in Texas's large urban counties are saying they won't follow the guidance set out by the Texas attorney general that underpins Abbott's new order.
The order could position Abbott favorably among Republicans ahead of a potential primary for president in 2024, but may risk alienating voters ahead of a general election.
What they're saying: "Texas parents who support their trans kids should be applauded, not prosecuted," Amit Paley, CEO of The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth under 25, said in a statement to Axios.
Paley said The Trevor Project's research shows that "trans youth who feel accepted by the adults in their lives — including family members, teachers, and doctors — are less likely to attempt suicide."
"Further, our research found that gender-affirming hormone therapy has been linked to lower rates of depression and suicide risk among trans youth who wanted it," Paley added.
"The government should not be involved in personal decisions that force doctors and families to act against the medical community's standards of care for transgender young people."
"This smoke & mirrors attempt to place targets on parents who love & support their kids is meant to distract you from the issues that actually impact you," Adri Pèrez, policy and advocacy strategist for LGBTQ equality at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, wrote on Twitter about Paxton's opinion.
"Trans kids and their parents are not a threat to you. Politicians that use them to distract you from their failures are," Pèrez said.
Go deeper:
Doctors fear next steps if states ban care for trans youth
2021 sees a record number of bills targeting trans youth
Poll: Most LGBTQ kids' mental health negatively impacted by anti-trans legislation
Texas governor order treats gender-confirming care as abuse
By PAUL J. WEBER
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas on June 8, 2021. Abbott, has ordered the state's child welfare agency to investigate reports of gender-confirming care for kids as "child abuse" in a directive that opponents say is a first by any governor over GOP efforts to restrict transgender rights. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate reports of gender-confirming care for kids as abuse, a directive that opponents say is a first by any governor over GOP efforts to restrict transgender rights.
The immediate impact of the order, which Abbott issued Tuesday, was unclear and a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said there were no open cases based on the governor’s directive.
Abbott’s letter to state agencies came after Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton this week released a non-binding legal opinion that labeled certain gender-confirming treatments as “child abuse.” That goes against the nation’s largest medical groups, including the American Medical Association, which have opposed Republican-backed restrictions filed in statehouses nationwide.
Both Abbott and Paxton are up for reelection this year, and their actions came a week before they are on the ballot for Republican voters in Texas’s first-in-the-nation primary of 2022.
“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 said in a letter to the Department of Family and Protective Services.
The uncertainty over the impact is largely due to the fact that attorney general opinions do not carry the weight of law. In Houston, the county office that represents the state in civil child abuse cases said it would not take any actions based on the letter, and Texas’ largest child welfare advocacy group said it was unclear what judges and prosecutors would do with the opinion.
“What is clear is that politicians should not be tearing apart loving families — and sending their kids into the foster care system — when parents provide recommended medical care that they believe is in the best interest of their child,” said Kate Murphy, the senior policy associate for child protection at Texans Care for Children.
The opinion by Paxton is directed at treatments that include puberty blockers and hormone therapy. It comes months after Texas Republican legislators— who filed more anti-LGBTQ proposals last year than in any other statehouse — proposed laws banning such treatments but failed to pass them.
Arkansas became the first state to pass a law prohibiting gender confirming treatments for minors, and Tennessee approved a similar measure.
Numerous states also have enacted laws banning transgender students from competing in scholastic sports on the basis of their gender identity.
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, said no other governor has taken the same action as Abbott. She called it a “lawless interpretation” and expressed worry for parents.
“The terror that is being struck into their hearts is very real,” Oakley said. “I’m also thinking about the kids who are relying on that care and how frightened the are.”
By PAUL J. WEBER
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas on June 8, 2021. Abbott, has ordered the state's child welfare agency to investigate reports of gender-confirming care for kids as "child abuse" in a directive that opponents say is a first by any governor over GOP efforts to restrict transgender rights. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate reports of gender-confirming care for kids as abuse, a directive that opponents say is a first by any governor over GOP efforts to restrict transgender rights.
The immediate impact of the order, which Abbott issued Tuesday, was unclear and a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said there were no open cases based on the governor’s directive.
Abbott’s letter to state agencies came after Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton this week released a non-binding legal opinion that labeled certain gender-confirming treatments as “child abuse.” That goes against the nation’s largest medical groups, including the American Medical Association, which have opposed Republican-backed restrictions filed in statehouses nationwide.
Both Abbott and Paxton are up for reelection this year, and their actions came a week before they are on the ballot for Republican voters in Texas’s first-in-the-nation primary of 2022.
“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 said in a letter to the Department of Family and Protective Services.
The uncertainty over the impact is largely due to the fact that attorney general opinions do not carry the weight of law. In Houston, the county office that represents the state in civil child abuse cases said it would not take any actions based on the letter, and Texas’ largest child welfare advocacy group said it was unclear what judges and prosecutors would do with the opinion.
“What is clear is that politicians should not be tearing apart loving families — and sending their kids into the foster care system — when parents provide recommended medical care that they believe is in the best interest of their child,” said Kate Murphy, the senior policy associate for child protection at Texans Care for Children.
The opinion by Paxton is directed at treatments that include puberty blockers and hormone therapy. It comes months after Texas Republican legislators— who filed more anti-LGBTQ proposals last year than in any other statehouse — proposed laws banning such treatments but failed to pass them.
Arkansas became the first state to pass a law prohibiting gender confirming treatments for minors, and Tennessee approved a similar measure.
Numerous states also have enacted laws banning transgender students from competing in scholastic sports on the basis of their gender identity.
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, said no other governor has taken the same action as Abbott. She called it a “lawless interpretation” and expressed worry for parents.
“The terror that is being struck into their hearts is very real,” Oakley said. “I’m also thinking about the kids who are relying on that care and how frightened the are.”
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